


Improbable

by Thylic354



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is So Done, Batbrothers (DCU), Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Confused Bruce Wayne, Family, Identity Swap, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Past Bruce doesn't know what's coming, Protective Bruce Wayne, Team Bonding, Time Travel, Timeline What Timeline, Worried Bruce Wayne, batfam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27575308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thylic354/pseuds/Thylic354
Summary: Batman and three of his new league friends find themselves in the future tracking down a criminal, but they're not themselves. Their minds and souls are put into the bodies of people already living in the future, but who?
Comments: 93
Kudos: 419
Collections: Fics that I want to read once they are complete





	1. It begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,  
> I think I went too serious at the start, but we'll see how it turns out. Also, I'm not sticking to any type of timeline so the ages and characters might seem a little out of whack. Enjoy.

Bruce always had trouble trusting others, or more importantly accepting help from others. He always tended to rely on himself and himself alone when it came to his night life activities. Alfred had always been a backbone for him, but he knew that this isn't what Alfred had in mind when he set out to make Gotham a better place. Maybe he could have been a doctor like his dad or join the police force and try to catch the criminals out in the open, in the daylight.

While his methods and devotion to being the Dark knight can sometimes make him seem scary, violent and even mad, he could clearly see the impact he was having on the people. Many still saw he as a nothing but a legend or a myth, something to tell your children so they would behave. He didn't mind that. In fact, it was probably for the best. Only the people who needed to be scared of him should know he was real, to either scare them straight or lock them up. Probably with a few bruises.

Gotham had seemed to be a place that lost its last string of hope many years ago and all them who grow up and lived within its cemented boundaries all but expect it. Knew when to look away or pay no mind. Not caring, as bad as it sounds, could be the difference between a bad day and your last day. Everyone that moved to Gotham with bright eyes and high hopes always seemed to fall for its traps. Quickly learning its unspoken rules and crushing the dreams they might have once possessed.

But then a darkness embedded itself in the once thought unreformable city and gained the name of Batman. People were not sure of what it was, thinking that 'it can't possibly be human' but this darkness was nothing to fear unless your actions deemed otherwise and put you on his radar, then it was the most terrifying, monstrous thing to ever stare upon (if you ever saw it coming that is). To everyone else Batman was a godsend and the slither of hope started appearing in the hearts of people again and that's all Batman could ask for.

Gotham was the farthest thing from perfect but the people found comfort in knowing that a least someone was standing up for them and looking out for them. Just the thought of it made people want to try and stand up on their feet again for one last go. Batman or Bruce Wayne, felt he was making a different kind of impact to his city in a way a cop or doctor just can't.

He's been the caped crusader for just over four years now and the job just keeps getting harder and more intense. Two years ago he started working with commissioner James Gordon personally. According to Batman's sources and research it seems James never turned his back on the city and worked harder than most in his job, even with the high corruption rate of his fellow officers, James never caved. Batman was finding it hard to work around and avoid the police when trying to lock criminals away, so working with the commissioner was his ticket in.

Batman, even as Bruce Wayne never had many friends but in the two years of meeting on rooftops and discussing cases, he wouldn't call James a friend per say but someone he deeply trusts and respects, but that in itself is the closest thing his had to a friend in years. He also started working with the Justice League Just over a year ago now. The people in the league were not the people he would normally surround himself with. Some he would admit were quite talented in many different fields but others tended to get on his nerves a lot. Most were also some type of meta or alien or something that gave the impression of super, and while he did not allow meta's in his city he couldn't deny their usefulness in high threat situations, even if many of them were still frightened of him. This is where we find Batman sitting in a large meeting room aboard the newly build Watchtower stationed high above the earth's atmosphere.

Batman, Superman, Wonder Women and The Flash sit around the table staring at the monitor in front of them with bits of paper and photos scattered around the bench.

"This has just gotten serious on a catastrophic level" Flash whines with his head between his elbows, face slammed into the table.

Diana sighed, "the simplest way I can see to resolve this, is to physically chase him and drag him back here and into prison. Batman didn't you say Bat-mite owns you a favour?"

Bruce hummed in acknowledgment, but kept his eyes fixed on the papers in front of him. They have been monitoring strange, but small waves of some type of mystic energy coming from an old warehouse on the west coast. They're still not sure if it's meta, magic, electricity or a mixer of the lot, but according to initial scans there was nothing too out of the ordinary and other things had their immediate attention at the time.

What finally drew them to this area was when this energy tripled in power and intensiveness causing the four leagues to scramble to the location to check it out. The only things they found in the building was a portable, square, cell like room connected to hundreds of wires that led to a collection of computers that seemed to be completely burnt out. They were able to pull enough information from the computers to piece together the individual's plan. As far as they were able to recover, the plan was basically to travel into the future and retrieve machinery, possibly weaponry, in which they have no deference against. Barry had gracefully dubbed the man Buck, for they discovered that he was a paid contractor to help his mysterious employer gain their weaponry in exchange for the 'big bucks'.

They needed to deal with this fast, like now fast. It took weeks to get the machine to charge up, but they didn't know when he could pop back up again. Currently, Barry, Diana and Clark were discussing the multiply ways in which to transport themselves into the future at the same time as Buck to optimise the time to catch him as they know for sure it would take him at least two weeks of preparation to travel back. Using the speed force was one of the first ideas to come up but Barry was highly against it as he wasn't well versed in that area at all at the moment and couldn't predict what would actually happen.

Other methods came into the discussion. Magic? Too unpredictable. Somehow build a time machine? Takes too long and no one actually knows how to do that. Which made Diana come back to her original point.

"I still think we should use that favour Bat-mite owes Batman. It would be the simplest option". At this Bruce rose from his seat. "No, I refuse to use a favour from a being that's too unpredictable and has no regard for anyone or anything other than himself and his entertainment. Do not forget the chaos he and Mister Mxyzptlk has cause us in the past"

"Well yes, while that may be the truth, Bat-mite owes you a favour. And it also means that we can tell him exact instructions so we know where we're going"

"But he is unpredictable, we can't trust that ty-"

"You don't trust anyone and he's the best option we have in this at the limited time frame. He may like to cause chaos but he will keep his word".

What Diana said is the truth and he can't deny that. He points a low level bat stare in her direction, but she doesn't falter. Clark steps in at this and proposes a vote whether or not to use Bat-mite. Diana's hand shots up in favor of Bat-mite and so does Clark's with his signature boy scout smile. Flash also reluctantly puts his hand up sliding slightly behind Diana for some sort of protection from the Dark knight's glare.

Batman lets out a small grumble "fine, but it's not my fault when everything doesn't go to plan".

The four of them leave to collect what they might need for the possible weeks away, which includes gear, gadgets and even money. They just hope whenever they're going the same currency can still be used. At first they were all pretty worried about leaving their cities and the Earth for that matter without four major hard-hitters, but they're sure they can ask to be transported back to either the same time as they left or relatively close to it.

10 minutes later they all met up in the same meeting room ready to call Bat-mite forth.

"Um, so how are we meant to do this actually?" questioned Barry

"I think Batman just has to call out to him saying that his ready to cash in the favour" answer Clark, a little unsure.

Bruce choose this time to have his input.

"Yes, but we need to be aware that there is a high possibility that he won't just do everything we request and we need to make sure to ask important questions about his ability to do this and as many as we can, so we know 100% of what we're getting into... or 100% of what his willing to tell us".

"Okay, yup that's for the best but i think we should do this sooner rather than later with our time constraints" said Barry

Batman grumbles once again before stepping forward and announcing "Bat-mite I need that favour...NOW" he spits out.

In a bright blink the Bat themed imp appears before them, floating just too close to Batman's face. He lets out a low warning growl and the imp flurries back, the amusing smile never leaving his face.  
"Ah Batman, the dark knight, the caped crusader, I knew you'd use that favour and I am most happy to oblige"

"What are your abilities in time travel and tracking" Batman asks

You can see Bat-mites interest peek at the mention of time travel. The corners of his mouth twitching even higher and eyes starting to cloud with mischief.

"And here I thought you wanted my help solving a case you just couldn't do without, solve a murder, track down and defeat a bad guy" he starts flying around demonstrating his punches and kicks and bringing his cape above his nose to hide behind it in a classic vampire move. "But you just wanted me for time travel, easy! When you want to go?"

At this Superman steps in "We need you to transport us to the same time as a man who used this machine.." Superman pulls up a screen containing all the information "and once we have him in our custody, bring us back here, to this time so that not much time has passed here, while we might spend over a week in the future"

"Yup, yup can be done. Finding a time anomaly isn't difficult at all for me! I can even bring you back to this exact time"

"Great" said Clark, satisfied with that answer "well are we ready to go?"

"Wait" Bruce called out. "You guys are jumping into this too quickly" he pointed a stare at Superman. "What time period are going to?"

"From what I can tell, only about 20 years in the future" replied Bat-mite, his smile growing at Batman's behaviour.

"Where are we landing?"

"Well, Gotham of course"

"Will the target be close by?"

"Around the same area, yes"

"What do we need to get back here?"

"Ah, just call me like today"

"What will be our conditions be in the future?"

At this Bat-mite stopped and his eyes flicked to the side before answering "maybe a bit of a headache but it shouldn't last long"

"...but? What else aren't you telling us?" Batman pressed. His glare only intensifying at Bat-mites reluctantly to answer.

"Ah you got me Batman! Truly the world's greatest detective!" He did a loop in the air, his smile wide. "I'm not going to be able to transport your bodies into the future, but no worries! I'll just put your mind and souls into people already living in the future" He said with a huge evil looking grin on his face.

"WHAT! Were you not going to release this information to us" Diana rightly shouted

"Unimportant information, don't you think?" bat-mite replied

"No that's really important" Barry called out

"What happens to the citizens?" Batman questions

"BRUCE! you can't be serious" Wonder Women then moves her focus to her brooding colleague.

"Well _Wonder Woman_ if this is the only option shouldn't we take it? This was your idea in the first place" Batman spits emphasizing Diana's hero name, silently calling her out for using names while in the field.

Diana bit her lip in frustration and willed herself to listen to the imp's explanation

"Don't worry, it'll be like they just fell asleep and once you guys return to this time, they'll wake up and forget anything that happened while you were in their bodies"

"Who's bodies are we going into?" Batman further questions

"Ummm I don't really know. Luck of the draw I guess" Bat-mite shrugs his shoulders but his mischievous eyes betray him. Finally, Batman asks:

"And why can't you take us as well as are bodies?"

"Ah I don't know. Maybe I can't put more physical things from the past in the future or maybe I'm just too lazy or maybe I just don't want to" his grin still plastered in his face.

At that Barry, Diana and Clark began to protest about the stupid reasons for this serious mission. Batman cuts them off explaining they need some time to discuss it.

"Fine but times a ticking, I'll just be over here for when you need me" he winks and floats to a corner of the room, while the four Justice league members move around the table.

"He can't be serious; we would be putting the lives of innocents at danger if this happens" Superman points out.

"Yes and we won't have any of our gear of powers. I don't know how much use we would be " said Wonder Women ignoring the grumble coming from the seat across from her, where Batman sits.

"Plus I don't like the idea of being in someone else's body. Gives me the creeps" Flash shudders at what he just said and stuffs a handful of chips in his month in which his pulled seamlessly out of nowhere.

Batman sits there with his elbows on the table and fingers intertwined with each other as he hums in acknowledgment of their points.

"While I agree this mission is going south very quickly, there are some things we aren't considering. 1, he won't budge on this. Hell he was going to do it without our knowledge. 2, we are running out of time and 3, even if you don't think we can get through this without powers then you shouldn't even be here. Replying too heavily on powers or gadgets will eventually make you weak". They all stared at him. Then the arguing continued.

5 minutes later they walked back over to Bat-mite and agreed to go through with it. The look on Bat-mites face was nothing but pure joy, which didn't make them feel any better. They also agreed to meet at the clock tower site where ever in Gotham they ended up at the next complete hour (since they didn't know what time they would actually be there). They didn't have much time to discuss their plans in detail, but just hoped to track the guy down with whatever resources they had available to them and bring him back before they impacted the lives of the citizens bodies they would be borrowing too much.

"Well then let's get started!" Bat-mite exclaimed. He snapped his fingers and everything went white as the four leagues bodies fell gently to the floor.


	2. In the lives of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey  
> Just want to make it clear that the story is now set in the future

Dick Grayson was just glad to have a day off. He had pretty much moved back to Gotham to be closer to his family and help out in running Wayne Enterprises. Right now he was in his Gotham apartment that was located in a modest part of town. He laid sprawled out in his bed basking in the sunlight that was peeking through his bedroom window. It was a long night on patrol and even with the five plus hours his gotten (a rare occurrence) he is still tired. Dick glanced over at the clock. It was already 10 am and he supposes he should get up and grab something to eat to start the day.

He stumbles into the kitchen area, opening up the fridge. Then he stares in it, eyes trying and failing to focus on what was in it. There was not much, just some of butter, couple of veggies (Alfred would be proud) and some leftover chicken. He was planning to have some cereal, but it seems he was out of milk.

"Ah, of course this happens to me" he mumbles.

He closes the door and rests his head against it. He could just eat it without the milk but ultimately decides against it in favour for running down stairs and grabbing something from the diner on the corner of his street.

He was already wearing a pair of old grey trackies, which were probably covered in a number of unknown stains, so he throws on a plain t-shirt and hoodie with runners. On his way out the door he grabs nothing but a 20 dollar note and leaves the house key on top of the doorframe in the hallway as he should only be out for 15 minutes. He leaves the building and slowly makes his way to the diner less than four doors down.

* * *

Jason was still fast asleep on the shitty mattress in one of his many safe houses in Gotham. He had been helping the rest of his family the past couple nights and couldn't even make it to his apartment before deciding to just stay the night in his closest safe house. He had stripped himself of his Red Hood gear back in the Batcave and now just needed to catch up on his sleep. The safe house, which probably hadn't been entered in months contained nothing but the basics that made it look livable.

There was the mattress he was sleeping on in the corner of the room on the floor, with unwashed sheets and blankets wrapping around the bulking figure that was Jason. In the connecting room there was also an old, lumpy coach facing a classic box television set. The room also contained a two-person table with two folding chairs and a small kitchen that was in need of a clean. The only other room in the apartment was the bathroom, that contained the toilet, sink and a bathtub that also doubled as the shower.

Before he fell asleep, he knew he'd probably sleep the rest of the day and because it was Wednesday that meant it was family dinner night in which as much as he hated it he would be attending because Nightwing would track him down and drag him to dinner if he didn't go willing. And it's not like Alfred's food is terrible, in fact it was something he misses about living in the manor. But he does get care packages more than he'd like to admit from his crazy family. Once he gets up, goes to dinner and out for patrol, tonight he promises himself he would actually make it back to his own apartment and not stay at the manor or one of his safe houses.

* * *

Tim was bored. He was in school. More specifically math class. Tim had passed this level of math years ago, but it was important to keep up appearances. He was a pretty likable guy in school. He was nice, smart, handsome and it didn't hurt that he was a son of one of the richest and influential men in Gotham.

He tried to keep the two sides of his life separated. At night he went out as the genius and highly skilled Red Robin and during the day, rich popular kid in school. Right now in this moment Tim was struggling to keep his eyes open. He had been out late as Red Robin and trying to listen to his thousand-year-old teacher talk as he wrote equations he could have answer by the age of 6 on the board was putting him to sleep. He opted to staring out the window of his second floor classroom and onto the school grounds below him, with the shadow of the city hovering over them.

* * *

Damian doesn't see the point why his father insists he be sent to this school. His intellect is way above any of these flee infested children. He sees it as unfair that while him and Drake are stuck in this prison they call a school his two eldest brothers are free to do what they want for the day. His sitting through an awful history class. The teacher is a complete idiot. Lots of these so called facts are not true. His grandfather was there to influence these past events, but just covered his tracks well. So he just tunes out, planning what book he should read once lunch comes. Damian had never been able to make friends as easily as some of his brothers could in this school and this was not a time he wanted to be making friends. He had friends outside of school like Jon and that was already boarding on too much for him to handle. So he opted to reading or other activates to keep his time rather than socialising.

But for now he was stuck in this childlike class room, learning some version of Greek history. He was snapped out of his thoughts when a colouring page was set out in front of him.

"Here, colour and name as many things on this map as you can remember and we will hang it on the wall" Ms Wilkens explained with a smile.

Damian gritted his teeth

"… Yes madam"

* * *

When Barry awoke he found himself laying on a very old dirty mattress in a small apartment. His head was pounding. He clutched his hand on his head and slowly moved to get up. Remembering the events that just happened, he moved about the apartment cautiously until he found the bathroom. Going over to stand in front of the grime covered mirror he got his first look at his new body.

'This is so weird. I'm in someone else's body' he thought as he ran a hand though his now black hair.

He took in all the features of the civilian's body he had borrowed. He was built like a tank, something that Barry never had the genetics for and his features were rough and ragged like the guy really needed his sleep. His hair was all black except for a little tuff of white at the front and deep bluey green eyes stared back at him. He could tell this man was very young and handsome, even if he did need to fix his sleeping schedule.

Going back to the mission he tried not to think about how grossed out he was to be in someone else's skin and went to work finding an outfit to go meet his fellow league members at the clock tower, if it still stands today. The apartment was bland and not much in It, but once he deemed himself good enough to walk around in public he set out, remembering to take the key out the front door as they might need to come back here. He's just thankful that it seems this person lives alone.

* * *

Bruce blinked back into his surroundings, finding himself standing in line at some type of diner. He looked down at his hands. They were slightly smaller than his own, but still covered in calluses. He concluded that this person's body endured some form of hard labour and he hoped the man didn't get into too much strife with his work. He also looked around the diner. He wouldn't admit it but it was pretty disappointing. It seems not much has changed. The styling choices may be different, but he guesses there's only so much to be able to change in one diner.

"Number 34…34!" this is the second time the guy behind the counter has called that number.

Bruce looks at his hands once more, looking at the little slip of paper in his left hand that says 34 on it. He bristles and quickly steps forward to receive what looks to be a home cooked version of a toasted cheese and ham sandwich. He needed to act normal, he doesn't know how the person's body that he now inhabits acted. Was he a regular at this restaurant? Did people know him?

He decided to leave quickly. He thanked the man behind the counter and walked casually to the door, not stopping on his way out and not meeting the eye of anyone he passed. He continued this for two blocks, finally ducking into an entryway of an ally. Bruce needed to find out as much as he can. He started going through his pockets. They were empty. The only thing he found on his person was what looked to be the change from the sandwich he'd bought.

'I guess I'll go to the clock tower, meet with everyone and work out a plan from there' he thought as he continued his walk down the street.

As he walked he took in his surroundings. It definitely was Gotham, he knew these streets like the back of his hand but, there were elements he didn't recognize. Small things like a new building there or a road repaved here. He wasn't expecting flying cars or anything but what struck him most was that while walking through some of the worst neighbourhoods in his time he noticed that the vibe around them had changed. Sure it still looked like a poverty stricken area, but there seemed to be more people walking around, not as scared as they once were and not as uncomfortable. As he made his way to the clock tower, he was getting hunger and settled for eating the greasy sandwich while taking in the sights of his city and what it will become in the future.

* * *

Clark was confused. He found himself sitting in a math class, in what seemed to be a private school in Gotham. The body he had taken was that of a teenage boy, maybe around 16 years old. Clark was not happy to have to go through being an awkward, hormonal teenager again, but he had to admit being human felt weird.

His whole life he had to careful of his powers, always conscious of what he could do if he squeezed to hard. A smile spread to his face when he pushed down on the desk he was sitting at with all his strength and the legs didn't give out.

'So this is what it's like living with no powers' he thought forgetting where he was for a minute.

Coming back to reality, he looked at the clock on the wall at the front of the class. It read 10:20 am. This meant he needed to get out of here and meet the rest of his teammates at the clock tower in 40 minutes. He looked around on his desk. There was an open textbook in front of him and a laptop that was in its case to his right. He weighed up his options. He could sit and wait until the class finished or he could make up some excuse and leave. He wasn't sure where exactly he was or how long it would take him to get to the tower, so leaving as soon as possible was for the best. He raised his hand.

"Um excuse me" Clark let out, trying not to seem surprised by his own pitchy voice. The teacher slowly turned around, dull eyes scanning the room until they finally landed on him.

"Yes, Timothy?"

Okay, so this kids name is Timothy.

"I need to use the bathroom"

"how old are you now? You should have gone during break"

"I know... but I really need to go, like now"

The teacher sighed and then turned around, facing back to the board

"fine, but be quick"

"Thank you" he nearly whispered and slipped from his desk and quickly grabbing the laptop, hoping no one saw and left the room quickly.

Once he was in the hallway he looked left and right, quickly ducking right hoping to find a way outside without getting caught. He practically started running when he had hit two dead ends and was starting to panic at this old building being built like a maze. He finally made his way downstairs and found the first floor pretty easy to navigate in comparison. What he did struggle with was avoiding teachers, guards and other members of the faculty. After a few close calls and him squeezing his way into little nooks and crawling on the ground to avoid being seen. He finally made his way outside. He ran as fast as his new legs would carry him heading towards the city, no longer caring who saw him from the windows. When he finally made it into the heart of the city, he started to calm down and walk, hoping no one would care about a teenage boy in his school uniform walking down the street.

* * *

Diana was pissed. Not only was she trapped in the body of a boy but said boy looked to be only 9 or 10 years old. A child. How was she meant to track down and capture Buck in the body of a child! She would be putting his life at risk. As much as it pained her, what was she to do? She'll have to meet up with the others and try not to get into too much danger.

She looked around one more time, noting everything that stood out to her. She was in a classroom. Middle school maybe. The walls were covered in drawings and colourful maps and posters of some of history's greats. She was holding a coloured pencil with a partially coloured map of the Greek peninsula on the desk in front of her. The name on top of the worksheet read Damian. The name of the little boy's body she would be borrowing would come in handy later, especially if the worried stricken parents go looking for him.

Diana had never actually been inside a middle school before; hell it hadn't been that long since she left Themyscira. She didn't really know the situation that would get her out of this room and to the meeting space in the city. She looked at the teacher who was writing quotes down on the board, then to the other children in the class who all had their heads down, finishing their colouring. At that moment she made the split decision to quickly sneak out of the room in the hopes of no one noticing. She felt like a few kids saw her, or rather him leave but choose not to say anything in which she was internally grateful.

Once she was in the hallway, she slowly made her way to the nearest exit. She found the display of photos, posters, trophies and artwork that littered the walls quite interesting and made a note to look up the education system in her own time when she gets back. She continued on a calmly and started her journey to meet her teammates, already cursing out Bat-mite for putting her soul in the body of a male child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the ages of the Batfamily:
> 
> Bruce Wayne/Batman (from the past): 25 years old
> 
> Bruce Wayne/Batman: 44 yeas old
> 
> Dick Grayson/Nightwing: 22 years old
> 
> Jason Todd/Red Hood: 19 years old
> 
> Tim Drake/Red Robin: 16 years old
> 
> Damian Wayne/Robin: 11 years old


	3. Guys?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't want to confuse anyone with old and young Bruce (now in Dick's body) so what I'll do is when I'm referring to old Bruce I'll underline his name and then young Bruce will just be normal.

They all gathered out the front of the old clock tower. The building hadn't changed at all. The cold hard stone still stood in the centre of the city, but now towered by its neighbouring sites. The streets were full of pedestrians walking to and from and stopping to do some window shopping. With the streets bustling and of course not knowing who everyone was the four Justice League members opted to waiting around, trying and failing to act normally. Bruce was observing from the shadow's, keeping himself invisible to the untrained eye. By the time the clock struck 11, Bruce was pretty confident he could pick out his teammates. There was a teenager, late teens, who had been standing by a sunglasses' kiosk and was not so subtlety examining himself in the mirror. He kept stealing glances at the clock, clearly meeting someone at 11am. While he was trying to act normal, he did stand out in the Gotham academy uniform looking a bit uncomfortable carrying a laptop. Bruce walked up to him.

"Excuse me"

The young man spun around, clearly startled but still managing to produce a smile.

"Yes?"

"Would your name happen to be Clark, Barry or Diana?" He was aware to was a pretty strange thing to ask, but there was no point in lying and if he was mistaken about the identity of his teammates, he would just apologise and that would be the end of it. But Batman is hardly ever wrong.

"...Oh!" he lowered his voice to a something short of a whisper "Bruce is that you?" Batman was right again.

"Yes and you are... Clark?"

"Yup, and I'm stuck in the body of a teenager" he deadpans

"Hmm yes, that could be a problem in the future" he put his hand to his chin in thought ignoring the man before him.

"Well, where's everyone else? Let's talk about our next move with everyone"

They walk away from the kiosk and towards a man sitting on the staircase, looking down at his hands while tapping his foot rapidly. His clothes were sloppy and seemed a tad small for his bulk of a frame. His dark shaggy hair was styled in nothing short of what could be called unruly bedhead.

"Barry?" Bruce questions. The young man quickly looks up at them and shoots to his feet.

"Oh yes!" he says abruptly "... Is that you guys?" he adds in an undertone.

"Yes, it's me, Clark and this is..." he gestures to the man beside him "Bruce" he finishes.

"Oh thank god! This is weird right? I can't use the speed force and using this body makes me feel like a parasite. It's really, really, really gross"

"Okay Barry, that's enough. We still need to grab Diana and work out a plan"

At this, a small child with his jet-black hair slicked back and dressed in the same school uniform as Clark appeared before them.

"Diana" Bruce greeted

"Pffft! That's Diana! She's so cute" Barry went to pinch her cheeks before she swatted his hands away.

"Hands to yourself. And trust me I'm not happy about this situation either"

"Aww, even her voice is adorable" Barry cooed.

"Now that we're all here, does anyone know somewhere out of the public eye we can stay" Clark cut in.

"um I... well this guy" he gestured to his body "has an apartment and seems to live alone" Barry offered

"Great! let's go then"

* * *

The apartment wasn't in the best part of town. The loud bustle of the streets below made you wonder how anyone got to sleep around here. The apartment was very bare almost like it was abandoned. The only signs of life were the three cans of spaghetti in the kitchen, two spare changes of clothes, toiletries and an unmade bed. This raised alarm bells in Bruce's head, but brushed it off to a young man living by himself for the first time.

"Welcome to my…" Barry kicks some of the blankets away from him "…this place"

"Well, should we first address the issue at hand?" Diana asked, stepping into what is considered the living/ kitchen/ dining room.

"Yeah, seriously. I don't know about me and Bruce, but you two" Barry gestured to the two uniformed clad kids in front of him "their parents must be looking for them"

"And those are Gotham academy uniform's, meaning they either entered the school on a scholarship or their families are well off. Which means them missing could cause big problems for us in the future" Bruce chimes in.

"Let's not forget these are the lives of children we are putting in danger for this mission. In fact, let's not forget that these are civilians we're taking into battle"

"Battle? Okay Diana, let's hope it doesn't come to that" Clark interrupts.

"But, it could. We came here practically blind. We don't know what will happen. But we also don't have a way around it, we need to use what we have." Bruce says

Just as Diana is about to present her rebuttal a loud ring could be heard. All four of them turn to the source of the sound. The source being the untidy mattress in the next room.

They move towards it cautiously, like how they would a bomb. Barry removes the blankets, quickly discarding them on the floor to his side. There laid faced down was a black futuristic looking phone. 'Why would someone living here have this expensive looking mobile phone?'. It stopped ringing and Bruce bent down to pick it up and turned it over. The screen displayed a notification of a missed call from 'old man'. The man's father, Bruce assumed.

"Looks like whoever Barry is, their Dad's calling" Clark comments

"Should we have answered? What happens if he gets worried and visits?" Barry says, voice raising with panic.

Just then the phone starts to ring again. They all stare at it. It's the same caller.

"Answer it" Bruce pushes the phone towards Barry. Who nearly drops it, like a hot potato.

"What?! Are you serious? What do I say?"

"Tell them, you going to be busy for a while and that your fine."

"Quick, Barry" Diana pushes

"Um uh ok?" he looks towards his friends unsure.

He swipes the answer call button to the right and lifts it to his ear.

_"Hello?"_

* * *

Bruce had gotten a call from the school not an hour ago. He had expected another call about Damian's behaviour or a worried teacher about his inability to properly socialize. But no, instead it was the principle asking about not only Damian, but Tim too. He asked whether or not Bruce knew where his children where.

_"Well clearly they're meant to be at school. I dropped them off myself this morning."_

_"Uh yes Mr Wayne but it appears they are no longer on school property"_ The principle stammered on nervously

Bruce stood from his desk at Wayne Enterprise, readjusting the phone in his hand.

 _"Excuse me? Are you telling me you lost my kids?! What kind of school are you running?!"_ You could hear the anger rising in Bruce's voice as he started to gather his things. The possible scenarios listed themselves off in his head. Kidnapped. Or maybe someone found out about their secret identities and wanted revenge.

 _"Now Mr Wayne, don't panic. As far as we can tell they left on their own accord. They weren't kidnapped. Again. But our cameras lost sight of them once they left school grounds"_. What does that mean? Did a problem occur and they both needed to address it? But he should have also been alerted and the boys normally call if they need to be pulled out of school for whatever reason (which wasn't often as he forbids any vigilante work during school hours, unless it was really important).

_"So what? your telling me they both just left together?"_

_"Well no. They both left during class time, but in very different ways and did not seem to meet up. This could just be them skipping class. It happens all the time, but because your children are high risk to kidnapping we are obliged to inform yourself and the police."_ No way were those two just happen to be skipping class at the same time Bruce thought as he made his way from the elevate through the lobby. The principle continued his explanation.

 _"Now since it's only been an hour or so the police ae just keeping a look out for them, but for now they are not considered missing. But I advise you try to contact them"_ he finished

 _"I see. Do you mind if I come and have a look at the videos of them leaving? I'd like to get on top of this as soon as possible."_ Bruce said already in his car heading towards the school.

_"Of course, Mr Wayne and I promise you, we will review our security systems to insure something like this doesn't happen again"_

_"Please do"_ he smiled into the phone but the bitterness in his tone was clear. Bruce ended the call and was left with his thoughts as he sped down road. What could be going on? Something serious must have happened for them to leave without contacting him and there also raises the issue that they did not actively avoid the cameras, which they should be able to do as easily as breathing. Something was wrong.

As he pulled up, he was greeted by the principle himself and made their way to the monitors. The clacking of their shoes against the wooden floors as they made their way down the hallways only amplified his uneasiness. Once they had arrived Bruce had asked for some refreshments for the man to fetch while he reviewed the tapes. First was Damian's. At first it seemed everything was fine. There was his youngest son colouring in a worksheet. You couldn't see his face as the camera was facing his back but Bruce knew he couldn't be enjoying it. Then something different happened. His hand stopped moving and after a pause he looked up. He seemed almost... confused. He started looking around, examining his fellow peers and then after a while, he just stood up and left. Not informing the teacher and seemingly in a hurry. Bruce could see Damian just leaving when something really irritated him, but nothing drew Bruce's attention to it. Bruce switched to the cameras to the one in the hallway and what he saw, was very un-Damian like. He was strolling almost. Taking his time to look at the things hanging on the walls. Then simple walking out a pair of doors at the end of the hallway. He switched cameras again so they were facing the garden. Damian continued to walk, turning his head in every direction like his never been there before. He finally walked out of the view of the cameras at a leisurely pace towards the city.

Now Bruce was concerned. It didn't seem like Damian was in a rush to be anywhere, so that ruled out urgent business, but didn't explain his weird behaviour. He seemed fine one minute, then the next it was like he forgot where he was. What was going on? Is it some kind of mind control? Were they being led to their death or to be used against him? He had to examine Tim's fed to see if his actions were the same as his younger brother.

To Bruce's surprise Tim acted completely different. He still seemed confused about something, but he seemed more alert. He moved about in his chair, but still examined the rooms occupants. Instead of just walking out of the room Tim actually put his hand up and asked the teacher something (probably to use the bathroom), but he did take his laptop with him, which seemed odd. What also seemed odd was the way he sprinted out once he was in the hallways. Taking wrong turns and acting clumsily. Tim had always been a claim and collected kid when in public, so to see him panic showed uncharacteristic traits. Traits like Damian displayed. Maybe some form of memory loss as it seemed Tim didn't know where he was going and the fact that while avoiding others he poorly hid and crawled along the floor. Once he got outside he ran towards the city just like Damian did.

The principle came back in that moment, holding a cup of coffee. Bruce stayed for 10 more minutes finishing up his drink and asking as many questions as he could without it sounding to much like an interrogation. He left shortly after, promising to keep in contact with the police and promising himself that if he hadn't found his kids before sunset to come back and investigate as Batman.

His drive home was filled with various theories, but one question kept tugging at the side of his brain. Why Damian and Tim? Suddenly, Bruce swerved onto the gravel at the side of the road and slammed on his brakes. He needed to call Dick and Jason, something was horribly wrong.

He called Dick three times, each time he went to voicemail his anxiety rose. He tried Jason next. After the forth ring, panic started to set in. What happens if all of them disappeared. It went to voice mail. He tried again. Even though he seemed emotionless he was starting to stress. He was breathing more deeply, his eyes focused on nothing but the dashboard in front of him and his figures were tapping rapidly on the steering wheel. The line broke during the third ring and Jason's familiar voice broke through.

" _Hello?"_


	4. Tracking down

_"Jason?"_

Barry looked up towards his friends unsure how to continue. They had all had crowded around trying to listen into the conversation. The only response he received was a short shrug courtesy of Clark.

 _"Yup. Hey it's Jason here."_ He said awkwardly

 _"Are you okay? Have you heard from your brothers? Where are you?"_ Whoever was on the other end of the phone seemed to rush in his questions, clearly worried.

 _"I'm doing great. But listen I'm going to be busy for the next week or so, so don't worry if you can't get in contact me. Okay good chat I gotta go"_ Barry just wanted to get off the phone as soon as possible.

_"No, no Jason! Have you seen your brothers? Something is wrong."_

_"Brothers? Nope haven't heard a peek or a squeak"_ Diana slapped her hand to her forehead at Barry's attempt at a normal conversation.  
The line went quite for a few seconds and Barry was about to use that silence as an excuse to hung up until;

 _"... One more question before you go"_ The man's voice seemed to even out in a more professional tone.

"Uh yup" Barry decided to talk as less as possible considering his previous fail.

"What were you doing last night? I couldn't get in contact with you"

Bruce made a face at Barry that silently told him to wrap it up. "Yeah sorry, I was out with... some people and must have forgot my phone"

"Ah okay then. I'll let you go"

"Ok bye" Barry hung up and threw the it back on the bed. They all stared at him.

"Well, I think that went well"

* * *

Bruce glared down at his phone. "What the hell was that" he croaked out. He tossed the phone to the passage seat next to him and speed off towards the manor. He needed to track Jason's phone and figure out what was going on. Something has targeted his kids and it seemed aware. Whatever happened to Tim and Damian had also affected Jason and possibly Dick. Jason had been with him and the others last night, so there was obviously something wrong. He wasn't a hundred percent sure if Jason had been covering something up, trying to tell him something or if it was some form of mind control. He needed to get to the Batcave as soon as possible and figure out where Jason was. Jason is his only lead so far and he'd need to find the connection if he was to find the others.

Once he got back to the manor he dashed off towards the study, with a confused Alfred on his tail. As he made his way to the cave, he filled Alfred in on the happenings of the day. He sat down in front of the Batcomputer and began with the process of tracking Jason's phone. As they waited the ever faithful butler, Alfred went upstairs to fetch a fresh pot of coffee and something to eat. It was going to be a stressful night.

Alfred's body language remained clam, but the old butler was worried. There was a chance master Bruce was over exaggerating, it had only been a couple of hours anyway. But Alfred knew after so many years of service that it was best not to underestimate the actions and events of others. Hopefully things would all claim down and everything would go back to their version of crazy normal. By the sounds of it, it doesn't seem like they're in immediate danger if Jason's interaction was anything to go by. These people were Alfred's family too and he hoped whatever was going on they'd be able to handle it.

Alfred strode downstairs with a fresh cup of coffee on a tray in front of him and approached the dark clad figure hunched over the computer. It was a bit upsetting to watch.

"Have you found anything Master Bruce?" Alfred questioned, setting the cup on the bench beside Bruce.

"The phone call came from one of Jason's safe houses. I'm going to monitor it, noting everyone that goes in and out. Tonight I'll go over there and talk to Jason or follow. In the meantime, I'll follow up Dick's location and try to track Tim and Damian" Bruce stood up and stalked out, a dark cloud following his every step. Alfred watched as he walked away, an uneasiness forming in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

The Laptop Clark managed to bring with him was sadly not much help. For one it was password protected and even if they got into it this apartment didn't have internet. They decided to head out and get to know the lay of the land, but first they needed to get Diana and Clark out of that school uniform.  
Clark and Diana were left in the apartment were Barry and Bruce were tasked in finding suitable clothes. The two of them walked into the closest superstore. Bruce kept a cool face while Barry seemed to be looking everywhere at once.

They both were weighed down by that fact that they had to steal the clothes, yet another reason to curse out Bat-mite while they had no money. They kept out of the view of cameras and made a point to avoid as many people as possible and moved towards the children's section deciding to go with plain, simple dark clothes. Picking a grey hoodie and dark pants for Clark. For Diana, a black jacket with a grey undershirt with matching pants mostly guessing sizes. The next part of the plan involved leaving the store unseen. This irritated Barry to no end. If he still had his speed he could be out of here without anyone even seeing him, he'd still feel bad about it but it would be less frighting.

Seeing this, Bruce took the lead, or pretty much the whole thing. He gathered the bundle of clothes that Barry was carrying and added it to his own pile and proceeded to do his signature disappearing act, keeping in the shadows and close to walls until he made it out. Barry on the other hand, was left to awkwardly walk out with his hands in his pockets and whistling a stupid tone, earning the unwanted stares of others.

Bruce joined the others in staring at Barry as he joined him outside on the street.  
"Very subtle Barry." Bruce smirked

"Oh shut it. Just because you're more comfortable with this type of stuff then I am, doesn't mean I couldn't have done it if you gave me the chance" he whined

"I do what's necessary. That doesn't mean I'm ok with this type of behaviour. Also if I let you walk through those doors with these" he held up the clothes "I am 80% sure we would have been caught by now"

"Well... that's not 100% is it?"

Bruce's eyebrow lifted and the hint of a grin littered his new face.

"Sure, whatever you say Barry" Bruce spun on his heel and treaded off back to the apartment to deliver the new clothes, with Barry racing after him with his continued arguing.

Upon arriving back to their temporary home they were met with Diana and Clark examining Tim's laptop.

"I must admit this thing is pretty cool" Diana was sitting on one of folding chairs with the laptop on her lap. Clark was standing behind her also looking at the computer.

"It's pretty much all screen and it's so thin!" Clark adds, tapping the touch pad.

"Yeah and it's on limited battery and we might need to use it later so let's not waste it" Bruce takes it from Diana and puts it on top of the kitchen cabinets, out of reach.

"Did you seriously just do that to me, Bruce?" The smile in Diana's voice is clear with amusement.

"You two, get changed we're going out to look for Buck" Bruce said, which earned sequel from Barry "aw he used my name."

"Do you know where to start?" Clark cuts in

"You three will be checking facilities big enough to hold this type of criminal activities we saw back in our time. We're not sure what we are actually looking for so start with places like the Docks and the warehouse district."

"And what will you be doing" Diana questions

"I will be infiltrating Star Labs and collecting as much information as I can. Including systems that can help us to track down types of cosmic waves"

"you want to go in by yourself"

"I may not be used to this body, but I know how to act without powers to relay on. Now for you guys, make sure to stay together and wait for backup if you find anything. Don't go rushing in"

"We know how to fight Bruce" Diana pushed

Bruce's tone deepens "While that might be true the conditions we are all experiencing are strange and different, more for you guys then me"

They couldn't argue with that logic.  
After Clark and Diana changed into their new outfits they headed out onto the streets of Gotham. Bruce parted ways with them just before they arrived at the docks not before giving them a pep talk/warning about how to handle yourself in Gotham. This included escape roots in the dock area, descriptions of the local gangs (in his time anyway) directions, villain memos, points of interest, various danger levels and more. The others were beginning to feel like Bruce didn't trust them in his city. Or maybe it was the other way around. A focus point in the conversation was his own habits. No one knew for sure if he was still… around and honestly no one wanted to know. This job had big risks. Everyone knew that. But they didn't want to face reality. Not when they didn't need to. So instead of asking the question, they thought it best to listen on what to do if they encounter Batman.

On one hand they prayed they didn't run into Batman. On the other hand, they hoped they did.

* * *

Bruce was stalking the halls of Star labs. It didn't seem like he had tripped any silent alarms. It wasn't that late, only just past 8 but the halls were strangely deserted. The number of security guards have seemed to have increased, but there were only a few scientists left in the building. It was dark, easy to blend in. He rounded a corner spying a guard pacing around a set of doors.

He flung himself in the direction of the guard, knocking him out before he had a chance to turn his head. He stepped into what first seemed like a normal office. He did a quick sweep of the room. It had a sense of chill to the room with a big wooden desk and a sitting area left to the door. To the right was a glass wall looking into a private lab. Bruce creeped up to the desk and started scrummaging through the draws until he found what appeared to be a portable hard drive. He hoped whatever on it wasn't too important. He moved towards to the lab, again doing a quick sweep of the place moving towards the lab computer with a floor to ceiling systems unit. He turned it on and plugged the portable hard drive into it and started pulling things apart only to mix them up and put them back again, slowly gaining access into the system.

Once in, he copied and transported as much information as he deemed relevant. He even created some basic code to help in hacking and system manipulation for the future. The whole process only took around 10 minutes, which was incredibly faster than he was use to but it was still 10 minutes too long. The anxiousness rose with each passing second to the point where he just glared at the door just daring someone to walk through while he waited for it to download. The guard shouldn't be knocked out for too much longer. Just as he pulled out the hard drive, an alarm sounded followed by a group of five security guards busting through the office door.

Bruce used what few seconds he had to turn the monitor off and manoeuvre under one of the lab tables. The officers were starting flow into the laboratory, their heavy boots echoing over the sound of the alarms. Bruce could take them all easily, but he wasn't confident in knowing what this body was capable of as well as a lack of tools and armour. He needed to get out of here without being seen. He had nothing to hide his identity with even if he didn't know his own identity.

He slipped his hand up to the draws at the side of his table, grasping some sort of scalpel. He eyed the guards surrounding the rooms (or more like their legs) and waited as one guard went up to one of the computer monitors. Bruce threw the scalpel towards the computers systems unit, hitting some exposed wires connecting directly to a major power source. This caused a spark, then a bright explosion which drew the attention of the security guards as a small fire started to break out. Keeping low to the ground Bruce made his getaway. Fleeing from the lab then to the office and out into the hallway once again Bruce finds it much more occupied then before. He spots a window at one end of the hall, choosing to flee rather than stay and fight his way out.

* * *

This was not working at all. The three remaining league members have been walking along the warehouse district and the docks for over three hours now trying and failing to find any trace of big bad Buck. Barry was getting a little but unnerved. The dark narrow streets of old Gotham were something out of his nightmares. If he was ever to get killed, kidnapped or mugged this is the place he imaged it happening in. Clark was starting to get the Chills too. The faint scurrying of the rats in the darkening alleys and the far off ship horns seemed to add to the horror music that he could swear was starting to play.

This only made them work faster, wanting to get out of there sooner. They must have checked at least 70 buildings by now and they were all buggered. So far there have been no sign of Buck or any type of machinery that resembles what he has and they were ready to call it a night, feeling more sleep deprived then they thought was even possible. What they did find however was multiple abandon sites, actually storage houses and a few questionable operations. They decided to head back and wait for Bruce. Maybe crack open one of those cans of spaghetti before fighting over the only mattress in the apartment and getting some sleep.

On their way back Clark couldn't help but drag his feet and he suspected Diana and Barry were feeling the same. Clark had never felt like this before. Just the small amount of walking was making his legs hurt, that and the fact that he had to keep up with Barry's long strides. Come to think of it Diana must be exhausted. He steals a glace towards his now much smaller team mate, noting how she seems unfazed but the deep rapid breaths speak for themselves.

As they arrived at the old rundown multistorey apartment building, they paid no mind to the few people coming in and out. The first floor had been converted into some kind of 24/7 convince store so they went around the side and started the eight floor climb. There was an elevator, but it was out of order and seemed to be that way for years now. As Diana went looking through her pockets for the key (they'd decided it was better for her to keep a hold of it) none of them were aware of the dark looming figure on the other side of the door.

* * *

To Bruce's surprise, while monitoring Jason's apartment both Jason and Dick walked out. At least he now knew Dick was ok. He then moved all his focus to them. To his even greater surprise (and relief) all four of his kids walked out of the safe house later that night. No longer in their school uniforms and dressed in mix matched outfits, all four of them walked towards the docks. Bruce needed to see what was going on in there.

He threw a small tacking disk towards Jason who was the most exposed and thankfully didn't notice when it hitched on the back of his jumper. Once they walked out of view Bruce now clade in his Batman gear landed on the rickety fire escape outside his window. He crouched there for a second while he disarmed the secrecy system before opening the kitchen window and claiming inside. It looked relatively plain, just like a safe-house should. Why here? There was nothing special that stuck out to him. Batman started to scope the place. Looking out for anything that doesn't belong. The first thing he spots almost immediately is the pair of school uniforms that are draped and folded on the kitchen bench. He goes through the pockets, finding nothing but a spare pen, then spotting the laptop on top of the cabinet.

Why was it up there? Where they trying (and failing) to hide it? He grabs it and brings it towards himself instantly knowing it's Tim's school computer. Opening it, he plugged in and started the hacking process. This being Tim's school computer there were hardly any forms of defence so he gained access pretty quickly. There was nothing on file, just essay's, reports and assignments. Not feeling particularly sorry about his son's invasion of privacy he checked the internet history finding nothing too concerning. He logged off, closed it and slid in back into its hiding space. He continued to scout the place and after around two hours of searching and finding nothing in the small apartment, he decided to confront them. Batman knew he should wait, gather more information, but against his better judgement he needed to know what was going on now. So he waited keeping updated on the tracker and filing that information away to use for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can probably tell I don't know anything about computers or fighting haha. Also thank you all for the love :) really appreciate it!


	5. That went well

Diana turned the key in the lock and jiggled it a bit, loosening the old door before swinging it open. As they stepped in a cold chill ran up their spines, but shook it off in favour of collapsing on the couch and bed.

"Hello stinky mattress. Oh how I missed you" Barry sighed as he burred his face in the pillow, all care of hygiene forgotten.

Clark glanced into the room Barry now occupied and then laid his head back into the couch. His eye lids suddenly felt very heavy, but he wouldn't let them shut until his last teammate showed up. He flopped his head to the side, now facing Diana who laid on the other end of the couch.

Unknown to them, Batman stood in the kitchen. He was in the shadows, but not practically hiding. They should have notice as soon as the door creaked open and the fact that they didn't made Batman raise an eyebrow. He strode up to the back of the couch, his cape gliding silently along with him. He watched as Tim opened his mouth to say something to Damian.

"When do you think he'll be back?"

'They're probably talking about Dick' Batman thought as he finally made a move to be noticed.

"Who?" Batman asked quietly.

At first the new voice that entered Clark and Diana's conversation didn't seem to bother them and they continued to stare at each other. Their droopy eye's slowly widening as they situation started coming clear to them. They both spun they heads in the direction of the sound.

The familiar white lenses of the Bat bore down on them. Familiar and yet not. They stared at each other, the younger ones both slacked jawed until Clark fumbled and jumped, falling from his spot on the couch.

They gaze shifted to him now on the floor. "Ouch". This seemed to pull Diana out of her trance. Her mind was going a million miles a minute. She was happy to see her friend doing well in the future and you know not… dead. But mostly she was confused. Why was Batman here? How did he know they were here? What was he doing here? What was she supposed to do? She can't let herself be discovered, preserving the timeline and all. How would a ten-year-old react?

She gasped, a little too loudly to be real "Ah it's Batman!" Jumping to her feet she moved towards Clark who was still sitting on the floor mouth agape, mind still trying to process who it was in front of him. She grabbed him by the arms and struggled to pull him off the floor, slightly hiding behind him as she continued to pull at his arms.

"Look who it is! It's the Batman" finally pulling him to his feet and pushing him towards the now scowling Batman.

Batman did not like the answers he received. A frown formed on his face as he continued to stare and observe them. Tim was wringing his hands and all of a sudden finding his feet very interesting.

"Hey, Mr Batman. What brings you here? We haven't done anything wrong, swear" Yeah if you don't count stealing, breaking and entering and who knows what was done before they got here.

The stare intensified into a glare. Clark was horrible at lying. At this Barry stumbled out of the bedroom, hair flopping every which way and eyes half closed. He spotted Batman glooming over, taking a moment to realise this wasn't his Batman and then without much hesitation, quickly presented his act.

"Oh my gosh, It's Batman. Big fan! Big fan man, love your work!" He walked over to the Dark knight and patted his shoulder. He tried to ignore his raising heart rate and the sweat starting to make its way down his face for attempting the daring move.

Batman's eyes looked down at the hand now resting on his shoulder and then back to his sons face. Batman's own face retorted at the signs of distress the boy was displaying.

Barry removed his hand slightly shaking at the realization of what his done. Batman's glare intensified as he bore his stare onto him. Jason scurried back, slightly hiding behind his younger brothers. That peeked Batman's interest. Jason was always the one to stand in front of the others when something scared him. The fact the Jason was scared at all by his presents was worrying. He moved his glance to all three of them. Damian was the only one looking at him, the other two found better things to stare at like the wall or the couch. Batman clenched his fists.

"I need an explanation now"

This time they all looked up to meet his eyes. They still didn't know how to process what was actually happening to them. They had no idea what they should be doing in this situation. This being the first time they dared to have a proper look at him, they realised just who this was. The shades of dark that clouded their friend seemed unfamiliar and the suit was modified, more gismos and gadgets that they don't understand. The part of his face they could see was wrinkled with age. Not a huge amount, but his smile lines was quite distinct. He also seemed broader in the shoulders (if that was even possible), like the world weighed upon them.

"Well…"

That snapped them out of their thoughts. They needed to come up with a plan. Should they lie? Just tell the truth? Maybe he can help.

It was Diana who spoke up "well, ugh… you see" just then the door swung open to revel Bruce. Their Bruce. Even if it wasn't his face the scowl was hard to miss. All three of them visibly sighed in relief as they spotted their friend standing in the doorway. Who better to handle Batman than Batman himself?

Bruce was frozen in the doorway. There, not three feet away from him was… well him! Alive for that matter, which if he was being honest was a bit of a surprise. He never expected to live long enough to be old. Well to be fair he guess this version of him wasn't old old, but definitely getting up there. How in the world did those three manage to bring Batman, the one person he gave detailed instructions to avoid, here? Gosh, I guess Bruce underestimates himself sometimes.

Batman's cold stare watched him, and he must admit for someone whose never been on the receiving end, he was impressed with himself. He was impressed because for a second he had the urge to look away. He didn't, but that look was definitely just a look and not his infamous 'Batglare' as Barry calls it. It kind of made him proud.

"Batman what brings you here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here? Looking for you"

Looking for them. Why would Batman be looking for them. He wasn't attacking or anything so he highly doubts it's anything to do with braking the law. He strode into the room and joined his teammates, not giving anything away.

"Oh yeah and why would you be looking for us?"

"If you guys are playing with me then it's not funny" Batman was over following along with these lies. The three younger ones didn't really display any signs of amnesia, even if they did act like they didn't know him. Key word here is act. Were they playing some game with him? Is it something his not meant to know and this was their way of telling him to go away.

But Dicks attitude threw him off. He didn't falter in his presents, which is normal but the younger ones did when they first saw him. Dick, his eldest son, who was terrible at keeping a straight face in times like this was calm maybe even a little smug.

He came to a stop at Batman's side, causally sitting at the back of the couch pulling his hands in his lap.

"And what game would that be?"

Batman was done. Completely over this behaviour. He stared into Dicks eyes for a moment then let out a sigh moving his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose bowing his head.

The action completely surprised Barry, Diana and Clark and completely confused Bruce. His back straightens and he narrowed his eyes at his older self. Had he completely given up? Because there're children present? But he still wouldn't act like that. He turned his head towards his friends, still standing on the other side of the conch. Their eyes were wide, clearly surprised by what just unfolded in front of them. Barry's month even hung open.

Batman lifted his head and snapped to attention "That's it! We're going, I'll talk to you later" he pointed at Jason before moving to look at Dick again and gliding around the couch clutching onto Diana's and Clarks wrist and started to drag them away.

Clark and Diana were still paralysed at the events that just accord and was easily pulled away. Barry was the first to snap out of his trance and the panic started rising as he watches his friends shocked faces as they were easily swept away. He couldn't let them be taken. Barry moved his gaze towards their Bruce, but found he was now missing from his seat on the back of the couch, but looking behind the dark clad figure moving towards the window with his friends in toe was Bruce now along the back of the kitchen wall, just staring at them. He pointed his panicked gaze at Bruce silently communicating with him about what they should do, but the only response he received was a blank face not even sharing a glance in Barry's direction. Barry began fidgeting, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He couldn't let his friends be taken, but he didn't really want to hurt his other friend, even if he was older which honestly made him want to hurt him less. He started wringing his hands before finally acting. Without even thinking Barry sprang in to action, jumping over the couch, catching some air before landing on Batman's back.

Barry leaded back and put all his weight into it trying to pull the older man to the ground. Until he stopped and observed the situation. Batman had not moved, not even an inch. He didn't even seem to register the weight now on his back. Barry moved his hands under Batman's arms and tried again. This time grinding his teeth and making small grunting moves as he put all his weight into it, but still failing in his goal.

As Barry continued his antics, what he was actually doing was starting to anger Batman. This was very unlike Jason and he had to finally admit to himself that these were not his kids, or at least something had happened. Batman's eyes slid over to his eldest now backed against the wall. His face remained completely blank. Not going to his brother's rescue or laughing at their behaviour, not even a hint of a smile in his eyes.

Batman let out a low shaky breath, causing Barry to stop his attempts to floor the older man and stare at the back of his cowl. This also snapped Clark and Diana out of their daze and they were now slowly pulling at Batman's hands to let them go, but his grip only tightened. A strange wave of calm set amongst them, as no one dared to move. Barry even caught himself holding his breath. The uneasiness in the room rising.

Until Batman broke it. He throws the two smaller ones his holding by the wrists up against the opposing wall. They wince when they hit it, clearly not expecting it to hurt as much as it did. Barry who was still fashioned on the back of Batman can only gap at what happened before he finds himself swung over Batman's shoulder and hits the ground hard.

Barry's head goes fuzzy for a few moments trying to reel in on the situation and attempts to reach for his head, finding that Batman had already tied him up. 'Jeez that was fast'. He tilts his head up to meet the Batman's clad figure stomping his way towards his Bruce. Diana scoots beside Barry trying to help him get untied, still holding a side where she hit the window frame and so does Clark, but his eyes much like Barry's own keep looking up to the two Batmen glaring daggers at each other.

No longer deeming his younger children, or whatever they are, a threat, Batman moved towards his eldest. His once bright royal blue eyes, now seemed dull and cold and somewhat familiar. Dick stuck his ground, arms still at his side and face blank of all emotion.

"Who are you" Batman didn't yell, but he voice was layered in a deadly venom as he spoke. Bruce didn't flinch. He refused to be intimidated by himself.  
After what felt like hours, Bruce finally decided to humour him. He stepped forwards closing more of the already uncomfortable distance between the two.

"Look. You clearly think you know something that is going on here. But you don't. Your clearly irrational at the moment and acting recklessly and I suggest you leave before you get dragged in on something you have no business being part of"

"I have EVERY right to know what's going on here! I know you aren't who you appear to be and if you won't tell me I have other ways to find out. Last warning"

This started a standoff, both moving into identical defensive stances waiting for the first move to be made. This lasted for a while and the air around them seemed to rotten with every passing second.

Batman moved first and really it was the only move made. In a flash of light Batman threw a small black disk at his feet and stepped back. The room filled with smoke making it impossible to see, but the odour was off. Bruce's head started to fill light, quickly realizing it was some form of knock out gas he hit the floor and started to crawl, looking for the others. Taking small paced breaths, he found himself lasting longer then he thought and he also found the three unconscious bodies of his teammates on the floor, supposably thinking it was just a smoke bomb. Bruce started to frequently scan the room but Batman couldn't be seen. His vision started to blur and his eye lids felt extremely heavy all of a sudden. He barely made it over to his friends to check on them when he saw Batman moving towards him in the heavy smoke. His dark figure seemed to glide over top of the floor the like the grim reaper was coming to get him. 'God, I think this fatigue is getting to me' he thought as he made his way closer. Bruce could hardly move anymore. He laid on the floor next to his friends. Only his eyes remained relatively active. He tried his best to glare down his older self, even though he was pretty sure he was looking through his eyelashes by now. Batman came even closer. He was wearing some sort of rebreather that looked way nicer than the one he was working on back in his time.

"...That's cool" Bruce didn't realise he was mumbling before passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah if you can't tell I'm not great a writing action senses so I try to avoid them all together, but I'm still failing at that haha  
> Anyway thanks for reading and the love


	6. It's just the Bats...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,  
> I just want to say thank you to all of you and anyone who sent kudos, bookmarked or left comments (they made me smile).  
> Anyway enjoy!

Bruce's eyes slid open, blinking harshly as the light filtered his vision. It wasn't too bright, rather the opposite actually, the room seemed to be on the dim side. He shut his eyes once again taking a few breaths before opening them for a second time. His head felt like he sliced it on a rock. He slowly sat up having to hesitate at one point to stop the room from spinning. Breathing a bit heavily he looked around and recognised the room immediately. He was in the 'cell' in the Batcave. He wouldn't really call it a cell, rather it was a room he had built into one of the cave caverns that was heavily reinforced with a strong door locking system. Bruce didn't hold criminals down in the Batcave, but this 'cell' was built for him. Whenever he was dosed with Joker venom or fear gas and needed to get the last of it out of his system, he would go into this room, mostly for Alfred's and his own protection, but also so he wouldn't brake anything. The room was fitted with nothing but a mattress and pillows. The walls and floor where softened with padding.

Noticing that he was now in different clothing, something that reminded him of white medical scrubs, which meant the hard drive was gone.  
'How is he meant to explain the reason for having stolen information from Star labs' Bruce thought, keeping his face blank of all emotion just in case _he_ was watching.

Relaxing with the knowledge of where he was and who his capturer was he opted for moving towards the centre of the room and trying to catch up on his mediation skills his learned and mastered over the many years of training, knowing that his older self was monitoring him on not only of the cameras, but the heat and movement sensors too. Let the waiting game begin.

* * *

When Barry, Diana and Clark awoke with their throbbing headaches they had realised they were still in that same rundown apartment building seemingly having not been moved.

Grabbing his head swinging upwards and immediately regretting it Barry sat up "Ugg that was so not fun". The other two slowly made their way into a sitting position as well, Diana resting her back against the wall.

"Guys... just wait I need a minute" Clark mumbled earning two agreeing hums from his teammates. Clearly the gas was effecting them much worse than their gloomy friend, who created it in the first place.

The room was dripping in silence as everyone seemed to forces on their breathing, before Clark made his move to stand up. He stumbled on his feet a bit and his eyes swept of the room.

"Bruce?" Clark moved around the couch then the kitchen. "Brucceee?" Clark was still feeling a bit sluggish.

"Oh my gosh, you are not telling me that Bruce is not here?" Diana finally made her way to stand on her short legs.

"Yeah, doesn't look like it" Clark replied

"Ahhh, I bet that weird ass Batman took him, what are we meant to do now?! Go get him?" Barry made no effort to get up and instead stayed on the floor stretching out like a starfish basking in the little morning sun Gotham offered. Diana moved and sat back on the couch she was previously on the night before while Clark was trying to open a can of food that they didn't get a chance to eat before, hunger finally getting the best of him. All of them really. They didn't seem particularly worried for they friend. Mostly because they knew Bruce was in safe hands, they just hoped he hadn't moved to the dark side in the last 20 years.

"I think we should go after Bruce" Clark started from the kitchen bench.

"What about the whole time line stuff" asked Barry

"I think that ships already sailed at this point. Batman clearly knows somethings going on and knowing Bruce his not going to let this go easily. Plus, he could help, this mission will go so much smoother with his resources." Clark continued, pouring the cold spaghetti in two small bowls and one mug (he could only find two bowls).

Diana rolled this idea in her head for a while. "We could do that or we could find Buck ourselves is the other option"

"Yeah but Batman came after us once what's stopping him from coming a second time, god knows what reasons he has." Clark moved towards the others with the food in his hand passing it silently to his teammates.

Barry finally put in his opinion "Yeah that's true and you know what else? Bruce had all the information he was meant to collect from Star labs so we would be back to searching buildings one by one"

Diana sighed "so, it looks like we're going to the Batcave?" she asked shovelling the spaghetti into her month. He revived two nods in agreement, setting their next move in stone. They continued to eat in silence finally satisfying their hunger.

* * *

Bruce was watching his prisoner from one of the monitors as he also went through information he found on a hard drive in Dicks pocket (can he even still even call him that). Bruce was able to recognised where the information came from imminently, Star Labs. All of the stuff on the hard drive was available here in the Batcave and there would have been even better access to this stuff at Wayne enterprises, but he decided to steal information from Star Labs. Bruce knew these weren't his kids and all the evidence kept stacking up.

He glanced over to his prisoner on the monitor. He sat in the middle of the room in a very familiar meditative position. This was getting ridicules.

This was all a setup of course. Just to see what the others would do. Dick was clearly the one heading the group. Unlike the others, he stood his ground and didn't falter under his presents. He moved with more confidence and if Bruce was to take away this factor what would the others do. The way they reacted wasn't like meeting Batman for the first time, more... like a child who got caught with their hand in a cookie jar.  
This whole test was to see what they knew. If they knew. Would they come back for their friend? Did they even know where he was? He was going to find out the extend of these people's knowledge.

Bruce stood up and moved away from the console and pulled his cowl back over his head. He supposed he should at least try and seize some information from the person who looked like his eldest son.

He moved into the room quietly and quickly shutting locking the door behind him. Dick didn't stir at all as Batman strode to one corner of the room and blanked his stare upon him.

10 minutes past before Bruce finally decided to open his mouth and address Batman.

"At this rate, this waiting game will take hours" Bruce said eyes still closed.

"Yet you broke it" Batman replied

"... What do you want" Bruce asked opening his eyes and untangling his legs, looking up at his older self.

"Who are you?"

This question annoyed Bruce, because of course he could have lied his way out of this, but he didn't know his name or his date of birth or anything and Batman has most likely already looked at this person's file. It would raise suspicions of he didn't know his own name.

"What's it to you?" Bruce decided to go with an aggressive approach, maybe even wringing out some information from Batman (yeah right).

At this Batman crept closer. The air around him growing colder. Batman bend down and was now at eye level with himself.

"Because I know you are not who this is" he jabbed a finger into his chest "and you bloody better tell me who you are, what you're doing and where is this person you've taken over is, before you can't talk at all."

Ok yup. Bruce could see he was now witnessing the full force of his infamous 'Batglare'. Bruce looked down cursing at himself for doing so, for faltering under the gaze but didn't dare look back up.

After what felt like an eternity Batman stood back up.

"Should I be expending your three friends here soon?" Batman questioned already making his way back to the door.

Bruce didn't look up, until he finally heard the door swing close for hopefully a finally time. His mind started to put the piece together. Batman didn't care if he didn't get any information from him, he was seeing if his teammates knew where to get him and if they actually would.

Bruce groaned running his hand through his hair, before falling back onto his back now with his arms covering his face. They'd only been there hardly a night and things were already miles off the tracks.

* * *

Bruce still clad in his Batman gear sat down at the console. All that was left to do was wait and see what this guy's comrades would do. He had all the secretary feed at the entrances of the cave up on the screen, as well as tracker location of the three boys who he left in the safe house.

It seemed they were up, but didn't make any immediate move to go anywhere. instead they seemed to laze around and relax, probably still shaking off the gas.

Keeping all this information, as well as the security feed from the cell holding his eldest son's lookalike to the two side monitors, he decided to shift thought what information he did have.

* * *

"Well guys" Clark said putting his bowl in the sink "I guess we should be off"

"Uuggghh this isn't going to end well" Diana mumbled as she bent down placing her own bowl on the ground before standing up and making her way over to where Clark stood in the hallway.

"Come on Barry, let's go" Clark called opening the door

Barry was up and struggling to put on a coat with one hand. With the other he was trying to finish up his cup of spaghetti taking the last mouthful like a shot swinging the mug back, before slamming it on the kitchen bench and running to catch up with his friends and out the door.

* * *

"You know I never noticed how gross and scary looking this place is" Barry commented as they made their way thought the tunnel.

They were traveling through one of the many secret tunnels to the Batcave, but to be fair it was the only entrance except the one in the manor that they actually knew of. It was dark and scarier then what they remembered and it didn't look like it got used very often. They were starting to regret not stealing any touches from a store as the only light source came from this Jason's person's phone. It was actually pretty good; they were pretty impressed but in a place like this they wanted something a bit brighter.

"Yeah maybe that's because you come through here at the speed of light, Barry" Diana said. The atmosphere of this cave was starting to get eerie. They were all huddled together trying to get the most out of what little light they had that Clark was holding.

"Yeah and we normal fly through here" Clark added "I never thought the ground in here would be this muddy" He lifted he foot to show all the mud and dirt that ran up his leg.

"I honestly didn't think it was this bad" Diana replied

After walking what seemed like miles they knew they were getting close to the entrance.

"Hey shouldn't we have seen some of Batman's security measures yet. Like I know we have clearance, but in these bodies we shouldn't right? What if there was like some sort of allusion and we've been turned around? Or what happens if those bats up there are robots and their going to attack us if we get too close?" rambled Barry

"Would you calm down, nothing is going to happen. Its fine"

"How do you know that Diana! Anything could pop from around that rock."

"Ok guys yes it's creepy in here and you guys talking like that is not making it any less creepy! Can we please just get where we need to go and stop talking like this, it's making it worse" Clack whispered yelled at them.

"Oh my god, even big blue is scared!"

"I'm not scared Barry, I... I just don't like the feel down here"

"Well, yeah it's like a horror movie down here. I'm just waiting for the jump scare"

"Of course Bruce has to make everything as dark and frightening as possible, but we shouldn't be scared of our friend" Diana adds.

"Our _friend!"_ both Barry and Clark whisper as loud as they could.

"Our _friend,_ Diana. We don't even know this guy and more importantly he doesn't know us, like at all. Imagine what his going to do to us when he finds us down here" Barry's continues as he brings his hands up to cup his creeks.

"Yeah, yeah you got a point" Diana says a little dejected.

They walk for a few more minutes until they all start to feel eyes following them.

"Does anyone else feel that" Clark whispers keeping his eye trained forward

"ah huh"

"I-it's probably just the bats... right?" Barry asks

"I don't think so" Diana briefly states and continuing at the steady pace they have set.

It was quite for a few moments before they heard a ruff scratching noise that echoed throughout the cave. All three stopped dead in their tracks.

"...Batman?" Clark questioned looking around.

There was more scratching, this time clearing coming from above.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god" Barry was repeating clearly spooked. The three of them moved closer together and Clark slowly moved the phone light up the side of the cave wall.

"...Bruce?" Diana tried. The light finally reached the roof of the cave and searching around for the source of the sound. The light finally caught sight of something red only for a brief moment before scurried out of sight. They all stared at spot where they witnessed the red blur. Clark verbally gulped.

"Nope!" Barry began "no,no,no,no,no,no, nope. I don't want to know what the hell was that!" he was shut up by two conjoined 'shhhs' from his friends.

They stood still for a good five minutes.

"I think it's gone" Clark said and started to move forwards again

"What the hell was that!?" Barry exclaimed

"Some type of large red beast" Diana replied

"Actually forget it. Like I said I don't want to know, let's just get out of here"

They started their journey again this time at a much faster pace, not even daring to look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I just wanna say that they I'm aware that both Bruce's could have an epic battle and pose a challenge for each other, but I'm going off the theory that old Batman is more equipped and experienced and the young one is not used to his new shell.  
> Thanks for reading!


	7. Why me

Stepping on the familiar metal flooring of the Batcave they were confused. And a little spooked. They had no trouble getting access into the cave, but now that they have entered it they were a bit worried. It was pitch black in the cave and there was a cold chill coming from one of the many tunnels. Moving the torch around the place, it didn't give the vibe of abandoned which was a win for them but it did seem bigger and they noticed a few added items around the place more like trophies really.

They made their way to the main platform in the cave, trying to keep quiet. They weren't trying to sneak around, but the place gave of the feeling like they're not allowed to be loud, like in a library. Though it wasn't really working as their loud echoing footsteps betrayed them.

"...Bruce?" Diana called. She wasn't a hundred percent which Bruce she was calling to. She moved over to the computer tapping one of the keys making the blue screen light up.

Turning around "hey guys, maybe...oh" her arms went slack at her sides as she stared tiredly at her two friends now hanging upside down from the roof of the cave by some type of cable.

"Yeah. I have no idea how this happened" Clark said swaying a bit. Barry just looked like he wanted to throw up.

"How did you find this place?" a dark familiar voice bounced around on the cave walls.

Diana spun around trying to pinpoint the location.

"Where's our friend?!" Diana replied

"That's not what I asked" you could practically hear Clark roll his eyes.

Stepping out of the shadows, Bruce moved behind Diana's back.

"What's your friends name?" this caused her to spin around and prompted a little shriek from Barry still hanging upside-down.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" Diana said crossing her arms as she stared up at the imposing figure. 'Oh god' she thought 'now I'm starting to act like a child'.

Bruce stared down at the irradiating imposter. Then crouching to get to eye level with them like Diana was a real child yet again.

"Try me" he growled.

"His name is Bruce, just like how your name is Bruce" Batman slowly stood up, bearing holes into the person before him. Honestly it didn't surprise him that they knew who he was considering that they found their way to the cave which is under Wayne manor. Of course Bruce didn't bother to lock the kids out of system, but the fact that they knew how to get here proved that their knew who he was and he carefully monitored their trip here.

He backed away so he could glare at all three of them and waited for them to continue.

"You see Bruce" Clark started "We are not who we appear to be"

"mm hum" Yeah Bruce figured that out already "Then who are you" they didn't seem too threating, considering they know his identity.

"It's me Bruce, it's Superman. You know Clark Kent!" Clark was grinning ear to ear "and that's Diana and Barry" swinging his head in the direction of his friends.

Batman's face remained blank, but on the inside he was so close to being done. 'sigh* of bloody course this happens to him' he really felt like he wanted to just lay down and sleep and when he wakes up the crazy dysfunctional family he knows and loves will be back to whatever normal is for them.

"Explain" Bruce asked sounding tired

"First, let our Batman go" Diana said

"Your Batman?"

"Yeah" Barry started "that guy you kidnapped is actually you. Well, you from our time. Your past. That was put in the body of that guy. But that is definitely past you but present for us Bruce, well you!"

"..."

"Yeah it sounds more ridiculous the more I say it" Barry finished

Bruce let what was said resonate in his head before a key bit of information this _Barry_ let out. The past.

"You're from the past" he deadpanned

"Oh y-yes. Did I not mention that?"

"Anyway!" Diana cut in "Let our Batman out?" Bruce just crossed his arms and continued to stare down at the Damian look alike.

"God Bruce, what else are we meant to prove? We already told you our secret identities!"

Batman threw two Batarangs at the proclaimed Barry and Clark, cutting the cables making them fall and hit the hard ground with an auditable thud before he turned around "follow me" and started walking down, further into the cave.

Diana quickened her pace trying to keep up with Batman's long strides and a sore Clark and Barry followed behind, rubbing their heads.

They came to a stop in fount of a door built into the cave wall. Batman unlocked and opened the door to reveal their missing friend, standing in the centre of the room in his white hospital like clothes. Diana ran into the room.

"Bruce! Are you okay?" Bruce didn't look very happy to see them, but they weren't 100% sure if that was just because of who he is or if it's because he wasn't actually happy to see them.

"You told him?" Bruce replied.

"Yeah we did Bruce" Clark said stepping into the room "honestly this mission wasn't going anywhere and knowing you, he wouldn't have left us alone once he found us"

Bruce strode up to his older self still lingering in the entrance stopping a little too close for comfort if he was anyone else. Batman, seamlessly unaffected by this spoke first.

"So you're supposed to be me"

Bruce didn't answer but continued to try and stare him down, despite being smaller then him. Batman couldn't help roll his eyes at this. Was he always this defensive? Bruce caught on to the eye roll and retorted his face in responsive, stepping to the side and forwards, out into the main area of the cave. His teammates followed.

"Wait" Batman called out after them "Just because I let you out does not mean that I trust you. We will be running a series of tests to know if you are telling the truth or not. This way" he made a gesture with his hand for them to follow as he made his way to a different area of the cave.

"Ahh I hate tests" Barry sighed, head hung low as he started to follow the other Batman who had a decent head start.

Clark patted his friend on the back "Cheer up Barry! It'll be over soon and the fact that he hasn't chained us up at all by now must mean he at least trusts us, right?" he smiled looking over to their version of the Dark knight.

"No" he grumbled making Clark's smile fade a bit " He's acting off. He's too... friendly"

"Friendly? Did you forget what happened in that apartment" Diana couldn't believe what she just heard.

"Or that monster he sent after us in the cave" Barry added

"The what?"

"Never mind Bruce. Look maybe old age has been good for you" Clark theorised

"...No" Ok Batman was in denial.

* * *

Five and a half hours later all tests were completed and even though they were kind of annoyed at all that they just went through, they were glad it's over.

"So does that mean you believe us?" Barry asked

"To an extent. Why are you here and why do you look like that" Batman asked coming around and sitting in his chair at the Batcompuer.

Bruce stepped forward explaining their situation and why they have come to the future and recounting what little information they had about the case.

"So you practically came here the most unprepared you could ever be"

"Uh yes, yes that is correct" answer Clark. Batman signed pulling the cowl from his head. To say the others were surprised was an understatement, the fact that he was able to relax and showing it under these circumstances was strange, but this was the first time they got to see his whole face. The bags under his eyes here were heavier then what the normal tired ones of the Dark Night were and the sides of his hair, if you looked closely grey strands mixed with his normal black ones.

"What?"

Realising they were all staring, three sets of eyes flew in opposite directions. Expect for Barry.

"You look... old!"

At that Diana looked at him with disbelief while Clark elbowed him in the ribs.

"Oh! not like OLD old" he started rubbing the back of his neck "just older then what you look like back... home" his voice seemed to turn into a whisper at the end of his explanation.

"Hm... Thanks Barry" Batman deadpanned "what of these bodies?" he continued gesturing to the four of them.

"Batmite explained that he could only transport us into bodies of people already living in the future and we were randomly assigned to these bodies. He said it would be like them sleeping and waking up once this is dealt with" Bruce explained

Randomly assigned Bruce thought. Bullshit. It all made sense to him now Batmite was messing with them. Great. Jussst great. He didn't know how many more days Damian and Tim can afford to miss out on school. They had taken off so much time already, he would have to call the principle and let him know everything was okay. Oh! and he'd have to call Dick's and Jason's work places and came up with a lie as to why they can't come in for a while. Wait did Jason even have a job? He didn't think so. He was still technically legally dead so probability not. Unless it's something sketchy he'd been doing for a case.."

While Bruce was lost in thought, the others had waited patiently for him to finish, knowing that this was just how he was. But after a while Barry started to hear things.

"Yo, Bruce sorry but can we turn on the lights I think I'm starting to hear noises and I want to have a look around"

This snapped Bruce out of his thoughts. The lights were still turned off from when they first arrived, it seemed he didn't notice. "No you guys are not allowed to explore the cave and will be staying in this area only. Unless I say otherwise"

"Oh what! No fair Bruce. I'm 75% sure I saw a giant dinosaur looking thing over there before. Come on just let us have a look around. I know your practically nocturnal but come on, please" Diana begged

"No" uggh why was this guy such a stick in the mud "I'll turn on the lights for this area, but the cave is filled with dangerous weaponry and I don't want you guys getting too close to it" it was technically true, but he also didn't want them to see the multiple suits and things he had that just happen to fit their new bodies perfectly.

"Boo you're no fun" This earned a deadly glare from both Bruce's. "hah- ha" Barry continued sheepishly.

"...Anyway" Clark cut in "what do we do now"

" **I** will scan the city for the energy readings that will help us locate this... criminal" Bruce really didn't want to call this guy Buck. Sure there were Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Two-face, Posion ivy, Scarecrow and the list goes on and on, but Buck that's... yeah no.

"Ok what can we do?"

"You four can go sit on the floor over there and not touch anything"

"Oh come on Bruce we can help you, you shouldn't just-"

"And how do you intend to help right now Clark. While I scan the city for an energy source on this computer what will you be doing?"

"We could..um..help you? Ok fine we'll wait" Clark said "but I'm not sitting on the ground" he pouted

"Then stand"

Diana jumped up and sat on the desk. She thought she wouldn't get away with it, but Batman didn't say anything. Being this small she didn't take up much room earning no complaints from the grouchy old man. Clark and Barry just leaned against the desk next to Diana while Bruce stood to the back watching the computer screen in fascination. He found the systems this older Bruce was using was incredible. Of course he updates his technology as soon as possible, but this was on hole other level. This was the type of stuff he looked forward to seeing when talking about the future.

"Hey by the way future Bruce" Barry tilted his head to look at the man "Do you mind us staying here with you, like that apartments cool and all, but somewhere more familiar would be nice. Plus your house would have food"

" I don't see how that's necessary"

"It's necessary so we don't starve." He shrieked out "plus, you know, what if this guy's family comes looking for him. We already received two worried-sickened calls from his dear old dad"

Bruce swivelled his chair so he was now facing Barry. Bruce remembered those phone calls and he remembers nothing about being that worried...right? Barry was pouting at him and giving the biggest puppy eyes he could muster. While Bruce was pretty good at saying no to a whiny Barry, to see that look on Jason's face was starting to make him crumble. He doesn't think his seen that face since Jason's Robins days.

"... fine."

There was a chorus of whispered yays

"I'll move some bedding down here later"

That cut their celebration short. Bruce stood up from his chair "I need to make some calls". Not sure how long this case would take meant he needed to make sure someone was watching over Gotham. He could probably call in Cass to handle any urgent cases, but also so that patrol was covered not only for himself, but Tim, Dick, Jason and Damian's patrols.

"Wait wait Bruce!" Bruce stopped and turned around to look at Diana.

"You really want us to sleep down here in this cold, dark, damp cave"

"with the bats" Clark adds

"With the bats!" she continues

"well you're not coming up to the manor"

"what? why not? You have like hundreds of rooms" Argued Barry

Bruce turned around. Even without his cowl pulled over his head he seemed to imitate a perfect angary bat.

"You will NOT go upstairs" After a few seconds of intense staring Bruce turned back around. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't touch anything" and walked off.

Once he was out of range Bruce turned to his friends.

"I know what you guys are doing and you should probably stop"

"Haha what are you on about Bruce, you're being paranoid" Clark said reaching his hand up to rub the back of his neck.

"Yes, yes you are. You're trying to dig into my future personal life"

"..."

"nuh-uh"

"oh geez Barry." His head dipped in frustration "I don't like you guys interfering with my personal life now, why would I want that in the future"

Diana stepped in chuckling a bit "Oh come on Bruce. You must admit its intriguing."

"Yeah don't you want to know what our lives are like in 20 years" Barry clasped his hands together "advanced in our careers, settling down, finally getting that car you always dreamed of"

"You're literally the fastest man alive, why do you need a car?"

"I have DREAMS Diana!"


	8. Lets go

The sound of light footsteps snapped the group out of their arguments. They all turned towards the barely auditable sound, descending from the darkened stairway that lead up to the manor.

All eyes were on the stairwell. They were 80% sure it wasn't Bruce as he disappeared in a different direction, so the anticipation was killing them. The shadows left the feet and worked its way up the unknowns' body as he made his way down the stairs, revealing an aged man in a fancy suit carrying a tray in his hands.

Eyes widened as they recognised the figure.

"Alfred" Bruce all but whispered.

All four of them stared at him like they were star stuck. Alfred moved around them placing the tray down on the table, all heads following him.

Bruce couldn't describe the emotions he was feeling at the sight of his oldest friend and major father figure in his life. The thought of the little family he has back home did appear in his mind and what might have become of them in this time.

He didn't ever really think about him out living his oldest friend. But being given the opportunity of seeing his future and the fact that he was not only alive but still pursuing this whole crusade of his, made him worry over the fate of Alfred, as he wasn't considered young even in his time.

So seeing him not only still alive but up and about was overwhelming.

"Greetings, I thought you would fancy a bite to eat" Alfred had hardly any hair left and what was left was deep grey, but all up he hadn't aged bad.

Alfred turned after placing the tray down noticing their stares.

"Not to worry. I have been informed about the current predicament" being the first call Bruce made "-and while I don't agree with how this all happened and what problems are sure to come about, I'm still happy to help in anyway"

"Uh- yeah thanks Alfred"

Alfred turns to simile at the speaker who would previously been master Dick to him.

"Why of course master Bruce"

"It is good to see you, old friend" Bruce adds

"It actually is nice to see a friendly face" Diana expresses

"Yes well I'll be back later with the bedding and a change of clothes for each of you" Alfred turns and begins to make his way back up the stairs as a chorus of 'thanks you's' follow him.

* * *

Alfred prepared some light bedding for the cave floor and went through the children's closets for outfits that would not draw to much attention to them.

Jason and Dick still stayed at the manor often enough that they did keep some clothes here and after he was satisfied with what he gathered he made himself a cup of tea, sat at the breakfast bench and read todays newspaper. Wasting time as to dwindle suspicion of why Bruce had clothes for kids that just happen to fit them all perfectly.

Meanwhile Bruce was finished with his calls and now made his way towards the back of the cave preparing to remove all his sons suits and things. He walked by them and saw they were already digging into some sort of wrap looking dish. He would have to grab some of that later.

He is well aware the others won't be able to resist they curiosity for long so better to hide these items and anything he can't trust them around now and allow some of the lights on later. Bruce stores these items in secret apartments, mostly in the floor which were added in about five years ago so past him shouldn't be able to find it (probably) and behind multiple false walls blocking off parts of the cave.

It wasn't that he was really trying to hide the fact that the bodies they were using was that of his sons, or the fact that he had kids at all. It was more of the fact that there were more problems to occur if they did find out. Like possibly disrupting the time steam or just the fact that they would be annoying him about it.

After he finishes putting everything away, he goes over and switches on the lights surprising the other occupants of the cave, including the bats as wings can be herd fluttering as the lights flicker on.

They all turn towards Bruce, faces stuffed with food.

"Oh, I thought we weren't allowed to see your new cave" Barry says mockingly

"I am well aware you would have explored anyway. I was just making sure you don't trip and get yourselves killed"

Just then Alfred enters the cave pushing a trolley full of bedding and a few bags of clothes.

"Whoa, Alfred! How'd you get down here with that" Barry exclaims

Alfred comes over towards them

"The elevator Mister Allen"

"When did you put in an elevator?" Diana asks

"Yeah I didn't see one in your old cave"

"It's the same cave Clark" Bruce replies "-and I put it in when I decided I needed one. Now let's try and not get off topic" He gave them all a stern look and moved towards the Batcomputer pulling up a map of Gotham with about 20 red dots scattered through it and motioned for the others to came over and see.

"Basing on what little information you were able to give, I was able to scan the city for these activities and it came back with these locations. I wasn't able to find anything about what this residue actually is so I'm guessing whatever it is, is new to the market or specifically designed for this time traveling gig. I will be going out to observe some of these location and try to determine what is the actually cause later tonight."

They all stared at the map trying to draw connections to the areas to maybe aid them in the research. They were also surprise at how fast Batman was able to get this information and how determined he was. For Bruce though he just wanted this nightmare to be over as soon as possible.

"Sooo are we going with you" Clark asked.

Bruce switched off the monitor, checking his watch quickly before answering with a resounding no.

"I know you're worried about our ability to fight, but you said so yourself you're just observing. That something we should be able to handle"

Bruce made a barely audible scoff behind him. They all turned to him.

"No offence, you guys aren't really the stealthy kind"

"Oh come on Bruce" Clark whined "you're meant to be on our side"

"Look" Diana stepped in, her voice lowering into a gentle tone "Bruce. Both of you. You can't keep relying on solely on yourself. The world is more dangers then what the two of you can handle individually. It's ok to ask for help, especially from your friends. That's the whole reason we formed the Justice League isn't it. So that when things got too much for one person to handle we could come together as a team" Bruce could not believe the words coming out of Damian's mouth right now "we know you don't like anyone in your city and you have your own methods, but this is our problem, and I don't care if your use to handling things on your own we're going to help you if you like it or not" Diana finished.

Bruce couldn't help be roll his eyes, causing the little figure to pout. They had no idea who he works with, if fact its hard to picture himself with such little support again. And had Diana always been this sappy? Bruce looked over at his younger self and knew what he must be thinking.

* * *

Bruce was over this whole notion of friendship that Diana went on about. Sure he didn't really have friends and the people in the League were probably the closest that he got to having friends, but the whole reason he joined the league was when there were global situations that were out of his city limits (and to keep an eye on them). And plus his not always alone, in fact his never been alone in his crusade. Alfred has been there since the very beginning. What's Diana talking about. Alone.

Bruce crossed his arms. His inner thoughts becoming defensive.

"Not today"

Bruce brought he head back to the oddly familiar, gravelly voice of his older self.

He sighed at the look they were all giving him. While Bruce completely understood his reasons for them staying behind he still wanted to go. He had this weird feeling as though he wanted to… prove himself to his older self. And Alfred.

He let out a sigh "Look you have been in those bodies for what? Barely even two days. I just want to wait a little longer till we go out onto the field. Ok?"

Wow. This Batman is really patient and understanding (well, in comparison).

Bruce, judging by his team mate's faces could see they didn't hold the same amount of understanding as him. They were all sporting variations of Diana's pout or being sulky. It looked like Clark was about to back up Diana's argument when the sound of heavy claws scraping against wet stone was heard descending from the old staircase. It provided enough distraction for Clark to lose focus and yet again turn towards the sound. Bounding in comes a German Shepherd, nearly knocking over Barry as it starts to run around in circles from pure, happy, slobbery excitement. A giant black Great Dane follows the leaping dog, towering over the other and nearly reaching Diana's shoulders and sits at the bottom of the stairs. The team stare at the leaping dog as it goes to jump on Clark, only to be shooed off by Bruce.

"Ace!" Bruce yelled "get down" shooing the pup down

"Aw Bruce you got dogs! I always knew you were a big softy, under all that Kevlar" Diana nearly screams.

Bruce gave her the side eye and signed continuing to pull Ace off Clark, who chuckled while patting its ears.

"So your name is Ace" Clark said with a smile. He looked up to the two Bruce's "that suits" he said with a mischievous grin.

Bruce knew what they were thinking. 'He was getting soft in his old age, huh? Losing his edge.' Well he wasn't. The dogs were for the family. He wasn't even responsible to feed, walk or pick up after them, those chores got rotated between the Tim and Damian (And the others when they stopped by). Sure, he sneaked them food under the table and entertained them with fetch, but that's just circumstance. His the same as ever.

"Oh look how big this one is" Barry cooed, walking over to were the Great Dane sat at the bottom of the stairs. Its tail already thumping against the stone floor of the cave when the attention moved to him.

"What's his name?" he asked

"Titus" Bruce answered

Just as Barry was coming into a pat, Titus jumped up and pranced towards Diana, who displayed a splitting smile when she noticed, after trying and failing to move Ace's attention from Clark to her. She went and started to pat his ears, but after a few seconds the dog looked up and started moving around Diana sniffing and looking at the other people in the room.

Bruce seemingly caught onto what he was doing and tried to step in.

"Titus-"

He was cut off when Titus started to bark and then growl at Diana. Bruce should have seen this coming. Of course Titus could tell that was not Damian, but an imposter. Honestly he was a bit impressed but wary about if Titus would actually listen to him and not just Damian.

"Titus no! Don't bark at Diana" Bruce told him with a stun look. Titus turned his nose up and plodded away to lay under the computer desk only now noticing two soft dog beds hiding under there.

"Aw, liking a bit of company down here Bruce?" Barry teased, earning a deadly glare from both Batman's and making a shiver run up his spine and went to find comfort in patting the dog that actually liked them with Clark. Diana sent a little pout at the dog now faded into the shadows under the desk and then turned to look who were happily playing with Ace.

Clark looked up noticing her troubles "I grew up on a farm, of course animals love me" he said with a nervous chuckle. She smiled at that.

Diana moved to stand by her Bruce. "I didn't know you were a dog person"

"I'm not"

"Really? Because I'm seeing differently" Diana smirked. Then her simile settled into something more sincerer.

"Maybe you should consider it. I think it will be good for you" She said.

"They're just a distraction and-" Bruce pointed a look towards where Clark and Barry were rolling on the ground with Ace. Then moved his look to were his older self was trying to coax Titus out of hiding. "-this is just proving my point".

Diana laughed at that. Making Bruce still and then stand back up. It was rare to hear Damian laugh like that. Bruce had to remind himself of who was in front of him, making him snarl.

The team spent the rest of the day exploring the cave and playing with Ace. That is until Bruce started getting ready to leave and investigate the areas of interest.

After a last ditch effort to convene Batman to let them tag along, they pulled back and watched him leave through one of the caves many exits. They were currently lounging around on the training mats.

"This is bull" Barry said as he fell from his sitting position to flopping down laying on the ground.

"I think we should still go" Diana said

"We were told to stay here and train until we're ready to go out in the field" Bruce answered

"Since when have you taken orders from people you just met" Clark sneered.

"While its true I don't trust him, I do trust myself, my now self and I agree with him. We haven't fully adapted to these bodies. Especially you guys with no longer having powers." Bruce was getting tired of repeating himself and it's not like he didn't want to go and help. In fact, he was getting pretty fiddly staying in here, why someone else was getting all the action, even if that person was his self.

"I am aware, but we can just observe and act if you or the older you need help. We should get out of this hole in the ground and do our job." Dianna was standing up now, meaning she was going to leave whether they stop her or not.

"What about the monster" Barry said, voice a whisper

'monster' Bruce thought still taking offence to Diana's comment about the cave.

"...We'll take a different tunnel" Diana replied "-or even one of the cars or bikes. He's got enough"

At this Clark stood up

"Yes! I've always wanted to drive one of Bruce's cars"

"You are NOT driving my-"

"Why should you drive. I also want to drive. We should share or do rock, paper scissors or something" Barry whined

"Either of you are not-"

"It doesn't matter guys! Let's go!" Diana said and started running towards the platform where multiple vehicles were parked with Barry and Clark hot on her tail. Bruce silently following, a little dejected from being ignored and knowing his the one who has to figure out how to actually start the cars.


	9. Right call?

The four of them donned in emergency domino masks try to copy their resident Batman as they make their way across the darken rooftops of Gotham. They believe to be closing in on Batman's location to provide the grumpy man with back up.

Along the way they are able to stop a few muggings and with only a few pointers from Bruce on how to optimise impact and lessen injury to themselves in the process. Either way their confidence in combat with these bodies were increasing. Bruce though was becoming more and more suspicious. None of the league including himself seemed to tire, which was weird considering the amount to running, jumping and fighting they were doing. Bruce subjected himself to years of intense training to build up resilience and strength but these people seemed to cope just as well. Even the 10-year-old.

The others have not seemed to notice and dwelling on it for the time being will not do any good at the moment so he continued on with tracking his older self. Trying to somehow help him even though he didn't want them there. Let's just hope they would help and not cause him any problems with his investigation. Bruce knew how he would prefer the others out of his city and crime problem, but well, his here now.

Bruce turned around now looking at the rest of this 'team'. They were trying to pat a street cat as it hissed at them, trying to retreat back into its cardboard box home. It swiped at Clark's hand leaving four little scratch marks that started to bleed.

"Ouch!" Clark yelped, surprised at the little sting of pain that presented at the top of his hand. This might have been the first time he's been hurt by an animal like a cat and not having to fake his response. He stared at the blood now starting to pool at the base of the cut in fascination.

Bruce watching him do this inwardly sighed. At least now he was aware that he could get hurt. Bruce moved onward, prompting the others to follow.

* * *

* * *

They later found Batman already in a full blow battle in an old factory. He seemed to be in the process of fighting off about 15 goons and been fairing as well as expected of a Batman. Not even breaking a sweat. That is until two hitman came. Looking to be hired contract killers. They are more heavily aimed with strange looking weapons that were giving off some type of radiation or energy. Bruce couldn't be certain without a scan. Batman wasn't necessarily struggling, but his opponents were putting up a fight. While Batman was dealing with the two actually well trained individuals, more goons were coming up from behind crowding around him.

"C'mon guys let's go lend a hand" Clark said tying to unlatch the window that lets them see into the factory.

Bruce stares at them with what utter disbelief (not that they could see that). It was like they were mission driven for once in their lives. Not really thinking about what they were doing, or at least in much depth as Bruce would. All they could think about was helping, not really caring what would happen to them.

He watches as Diana starts to climb into the building. His eyes move over to where Barry is silently bouncing up and down on the spot. Barry was muttering to himself. Telling himself he could do it and fighting hand to hand combat without his speed would just be like fighting another speedster. Even though his only done that once at this point. But what was all that extra training for if not for this?!

'At least Barry remembered he didn't have powers anymore' Bruce thought with an eye roll.

As Bruce followed the rest inside the building and jumped straight into battle, he looked at his counterparts face. It was completely blank, but Bruce new better. The look on his face was utter distress. That was weird. He almost looked scared. Batman is never scared.

But Batman was. Was the past versions for his team really that stupid (probably still are). Honestly Batman didn't really care if the goons got a few kicks in on his teammates, lord knows they could use a reality check in their age. But when he noticed them coming to aid him, worry, concern, anger and even fear managed to creep its way into his soul. Untrained in their new environments could be disastrous. And those new environments were his children!

Batman fought harder, trying to lessen the blows of their opponents can get in. Fighting side by side used to come so natural for Batman be it the boys or the Justice league. But this justice league was inexperienced and overestimated their ability to adapt to these new circumstances. His instincts kept wanting to fight how he normally does when fighting with either Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin or Robin, and his mind was constantly aware of this so he wouldn't. It seemed so easy to fall into that routine. Batman thought he could at least rely on himself to be useful, but he was sadly mistaken. Bruce seemed to be doing a great job, but for a Batman that's trained multiple people he could see that his old self was a mess. Trying to be everywhere at once, clearly not use to the team dynamic. Not used to having someone there at all. Handling it all himself.

This intervention was not helping at all. They should be optimising each other's skills and bounce off each other. Even with their 'special skills' gone, they should be able to recognise what their new weaknesses is and cover each other. The only problem. They weren't.

Batman gritted his teeth, trying to keep an eye on everyone. He did that anyway; his parenting may be considered a little bit on the helicoptery side. But this time it was working overtime.

That's when Batman noticed the glint of a gun. A sniper on the overhead railings. 'Oh shit'. Batman noticed where they were aiming. At Diana. No, at Damien! Presuming to be picking off the weakest first. The littlest. Diana could take a bullet; she could handle herself. But this was his youngest son's body she was using and if something happens to her then something happens to him, right? Panic and fear rippled up his spine and he dove into action. Not even registering what he was doing. He pushed Diana behind him taking the shot.

As soon as it pieced though Batman's armour he realised it wasn't a regular weapon. The same type that these goons were using earlier. The bullet itself only pieced a few inches into Bruce's skin around his shoulder. But that was enough. A stinging sensation spread out from the impact point as blood started to seep though. The stinging transformed into a fast burning, spreading from his shoulder, around his chest and down his back. He let out a grunt and then gritted his teeth together, collapsing on his knees and clutching his shoulder, the main source of his pain before passing out.

Diana stood, frozen in shock, starring at the man who protected her.

"Diana!" Clark shouted

Her head whipped around just in time to see one of the goons swing at her with an enhanced looking bat. She ducked, putting weight on her hands before swiping her legs out in an attempt to knock the guy off his feet. But her feet never made contact. She was too short! Her legs never made contact 'Oh Hera'. She didn't incorporate her new body into her fighting style. The momentum of the kick sends her spinning a bit, but she got right back up and fought on.

Barry's the one who rush to check on Batman and how he's hurt, but before that Bruce ducks down to rummage though his older self's utility belt like some kind of vulture. He prioritised the snipers by grabbing a couple of Batarangs and throwing them at the insulants on the overheads. Before grabbing a few more items. Some of them looked unfamiliar and even recognising the basic tools was hard. Some of the compartments he couldn't even open. He decided to only grab what he was a hundred percent sure of what it was, rather than getting hurt trying to operate something new. He pocketed as many Batanangs as possible a couple of explosive disks, a grappling hook and a collapsible Bo staff. Then, quickly giving Barry the side glance hopped back up to aid Clark and Diana to finish off the last of the villains (or what he assumed were villains since they were fighting Batman).

Barry couldn't help the shocked and disgusted look he gave Bruce as he watched him get back up and joined the fight. 'He just robbed a man down' he thought 'It's like grave robbing, but you know his not dead... yet'. Not really knowing what to do expect check his vitals and putting pressure on the wound.

"Come on Batman" Barry insisted "Guys we need to get him out of here" he said looking up at them.

Bruce walked over to where they were, pressing a button on Batman's belt that calls the car over to them as Clark knocks out the last goon.

"You guys take him; I'll look into what was going on here"

Jeez this guy didn't even care about himself.

Clark moved to pick up the downed Batman and then finding out that he was struggling. Barry had to fight the chuckle in his throat as Superman could now no longer lift one human being. He moved to lift the unconscious man to rest on his shoulder and Clark following his lead took the other arm. Diana lead them out and towards where the Batmobile rolled to a stop. The walk towards the car was silent, Diana's soul filling with guilt. If she hadn't been there or paid more attention this wouldn't have happened. Bruce keeps telling her to focus on what's around her. She's the worrier, but no, she apparently needed to be saved. Maybe she was getting too use to her powers. While her guilt grows so did her anger, but that was mostly directed at herself. Both Barry and Clark felt awful. They didn't really know what to do in this situation, they failed to protect their friend and he got hurt. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to follow him.

Diana opened the door for them and they laid Batman down in the back. Barry, forever trying to lighten the mood started

"Hey guys" his solemn friends faced him

"at least this car has a back seat"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short, but thanks for reading :)


	10. A little chat

The Batmobile drove itself home, and thank the lord because without Bruce there none of them knew where to go or god forbid how to actually drive the complicated machine. The ride back to the cave is mostly quiet. Barry is sat in the back with Batman trying to look after him. Diana sat in the passenger side, just barely able to see over the side window, in which she was staring out. Clark on the other hand was looking extremely awkward sitting in the driving seat, but not actually driving. Not knowing what to do with his hands, he still held on to the bottom of the steering wheel.

Pulling into the cave, the group could see Alfred waiting by the side of the platform ready and prepared.

* * *

Alfred knew something like this would happen. Of course something like this happens! The children are being used to host the past members of the Justice league and of course they want Bruce's help. You know Alfred was getting too old for all this time travel, dimension, alternate reality, magic, cosmic shit. Why couldn't they have just one nice week where the strangest thing that happens in their family is that everyone dresses up in customs and goes out at night to hunt criminals and no one got hurt. It's sad to think that's what Alfred considered a good week.

Alfred watched as Ti-Clark! Clark. Helped Barry move an unconscious Batman from the back seat in the Batmobile.

'Oh bollocks'

And here Alfred thought master Bruce was becoming more careful as he aged. Maybe he was wrong. Alfred sighed as he went to fetch a cot to roll Bruce over to the medical area after watching Clark look at him like a lost puppy not knowing what to do with the unconscious man. This Clark must not be as familiar to his Bruce and his systems yet.

Quickly putting Bruce on the bed and pushing it back to medical room in the Batcave. Alfred noticed that the wound itself was shallow but Bruce's face was screwed up in pain. Quickly removing the suit and starting to check his vitals Alfred asked what happened looking at the guilt stricken faces of the three guests. Diana finally stepped forward as Alfred continued to work.

"I didn't notice a shooter in the overheads that was aiming right for me. I-I could have handled it but..."Diana voice seemed to dim in shame "he jumped in to shield me from it"

'Of course he did' Alfred thought. He couldn't let something happen to Damian, well any of them really. But Diana looked distraught, normally she just deflected it, dodged it or even taken it and never considered Bruce of all people so concerned about his teammates health. But no here lays an injured Batman. They haven't even been working together that long and something like this already happened. As bad as it sounds it would have been worse if it was their Bruce since they were still trying to earn his complete trust.

Alfred noticed what seemed to be purple like bruising starting to appear around the impact zone and seemed to be spreading. His vitals weren't too bad so his life wasn't on the line. Alfred started a scan to see what was wrong and causing him pain with practise ease (which is pretty sad), before giving him something for the pain.

"Let me guess" Alfred started turning back towards the group noticing the absent of one "Young master Bruce decided to continue on his own"

"Well he didn't quite say that..." Clark started

"His just wrapping up the crime scene for us. Someone had to stay behind and look around" Diana stepped in

"Or he thinks more will get done if he is by himself. What's to happen if more of these thugs were to show up, surely not everyone needed to return. Backup would be beneficial." Alfred added trying to push them into thinking and understanding how Bruce himself thinks just as Alfred has mastered.

The three of them shared glances knowing that Alfred is right. Especially when it comes to Bruce and what goes on in his head. He probably needed a break from the group too.

"Haha" Barry laughed hollowly, rubbing the back of his neck "We haven't really gotten used to the whole team thing yet"

"Bruce especially" Diana adds bitterly. The guy didn't turn up to any team days and if he 'deemed' a mission important or difficult enough to show up, he left straight after. Even if we went to get lunch or something after or even to wine down.

They weren't a very effective team were they? We'll not yet.

The group shuffled out and made their way to the main area. Clark sat down on the floor with a huff, patting the one dog that let him. Barry went to pocking around some of the gadgets on display, while Diana leaned against the wall arms crossed and glared ahead at the nothing in particular, in a very Damian like fashion.

"We need to focus on getting along as a team, I reckon" Barry announced after a few minutes throwing some round ball with an illuminate blue light in the air before catching it.

"..."

Barry sighed " Look I know we all thought we were making progress and we all thought we knew our teammates. But the truth is we don't and I think some team building exercises would be really helpful, maybe even fun!" Barry tried to end on a high note

Diana was still kind of pissed at Bruce. She wasn't really sure if she should be or really the reason she was. Maybe it was just the fact that they weren't as close of a team as she thought. Actually she was mad at both Bruce's. She understood why Batman had stepped in fount of her, she is not even in her invincible body anymore, she understood that it was for the betterment of this child she inhabited and that it was foolish and naïve for all of them to throw the bodies in danger like that but... they were heroes and its their duty to help. Especially when it's a friend that needs that assistance.

Diana sighed eyes gazing back to over to the doors leading to the medical ward where Alfred was attending to an injured Batman.

"I think that's a good idea Barry" Clark said. He put on a smile but all up, Bruce was becoming someone he could consider a friend maybe even one day his best friend (sorry Jimmy). Turns out his progress wasn't going as well as he thought. He might have been a bit childlike to think like that.

"Yeah" Diana agreed reluctantly. She sighed again and pushed herself off the cave wall "We need Bruce to actually participate in group activities so we actually get to know him and not just what he wants us to know. Any ideas on how to do this?"

"So what I'm hearing" Barry announces. The bounce in his step returning "we should take him to a bar, so he will spill all his little secrets" Barry jokes

"...You know what I think. You're on the right track" Diana considers

"wait, what?"

"Not the getting drunk part" Diana explains "but going out as ourselves and getting to know who we are under the masks even if they're not that favourable" Going out and actually hanging out would be good. The other Justice league members do this on occasion, but not Batman. Never Batman. Understanding him is what they would like to accomplish with this. Batman while not as present as some of the other members, he was a big and important part of the Justice league. There's a reason why he was considered apart of this holy trinity thing. To be able to stand among (and sometimes above) some of the most powerful people in the galaxy is crazy for a mere 'so called' mortal man. But for a team to really work they should be able to trust and understand each other right? And that's not going to happen when all Bruce shows his face for is meetings, field work and upgrades.

"So you think we should drag Bruce somewhere so his forced to hang out with us?" questioned Clark.

"Exactly" she answered. Clark had his arms folded like he didn't really agree but nodded his head anyway. He always meant to catch up with Bruce, get to know someone who he considered a close friend, even if the other party disagrees but between his no metas rule and Bruce being always 'busy', he just forgot about trying. So he knew what Bruce would think about this but Clark would just go along for the ride while also reeking in the benefits. Barry however did voice his concerns.

"I'm all about getting out of this hole in the ground, but Bruce is not going to like this at all. I mean if we don't get injured trying to get him to come, were going to have to push him around on a trolley because he won't come willingly."

"Oh why are people so scared of just one mortal man" Diana said

"A mortal man who could scare even death" Barry sulked.

"Anyway" Diana announced loudly "His not too hard to convince. He'll come"

"well we can give it a try" Clark said a little unsure

* * *

Two hours ticked by and Bruce still hasn't returned. They were starting to get worried. Maybe Alfred was right and he was jumped back where they left him at the warehouse. Abounded him. No! It was to look after someone hurt. But all three of them didn't need to go back to the cave just for Alfred to do all the work.

But his fine. He has to be. His Batman for god sake. He doesn't just get jumped. But if something did they would never forgive themselves. They were more determined than ever to hang out with the dark knight than ever.

They thoughts were cut short were Alfred magically appeared in front of them, shamefully making members of the Justice league jump.

"Master Bruce has awoken and wishes to see you" he picked up some mugs placing them on a tray and leaving up the elevator.

Fear settled itself within the silence of the group, willing Alfred's return which didn't happen.

They shuffled their way into the medical bay heads low, trying to prepare for what was going to come.

It was quiet for a few minutes and they could feel Bruce's eyes tearing holes into their skulls.

Bruce was beyond pissed. He couldn't believe it. He knew they could be foolish, but what they pulled was just… just pure stupidity. He couldn't believe past him allowed them to get into a fight. Then again he didn't really care what they did at that time. But to participate in it also. Stupid!

Oh lord what if something happened. Even if they got injured his not certain he wouldn't be seeing red towards his idiotic teammates. But if something else were to happen…to any of them. Geez Bruce didn't even want to think about it.

But then again. That shot was aimed at Damien's head and there's only so many miracle's one father gets.

Bruce finally starts to speak up. Voice almost unrecognisable with disgust and…fear?

"How dare you…" They all flinch at his words, finally realising that he was speaking with not only anger but yes, fear. Their heads sunk lower, not daring to fight him on this. They are all aware that what they did was dangerous and that they were only thinking about themselves and their 'hero complex' and not about the safety of their hosts.

"It's like you think you have a choice in putting people in danger. You had no plan what so ever and weren't even covering each other's weak sides! You failed to work together. But that- that was nothing compared to your carelessness! It's like you didn't even care if your hosts were injured! What if something happened to them. What of their loved ones? They are not your bodies to use recklessly. They're not yours to use at all! You are untrained to your situation and never should have been there to start with!" The volume of his voice rose as he finished, only to stop and breath in an attempt to calm himself down, looking at his hands. His breath and the beeping of the monitors being the only sound in the room. Bruce felt he had no control. Distorted. So unlike him.

He raised his head searching all of their faces with a stern look.

"You have no idea what you just risked" he said quieter now.

A beat of silence past eyes still cast down before Bruce shifted to sit up more. The others rushed to his side telling him to lay back down and rest, but Bruce was too upset to listen.

"Get me my laptop"

When meet with questioning looks, Bruce raised his voice in frustration.

"The laptop on the Batcomputer desk, get it!"

"Bruce" Clark tried "You really shouldn't be working. We don't know what that thing did-"

"It's worth it, if it means you leave faster"

That shut Clark up. All of them really. It kind of hurt knowing how much Bruce didn't want them there. So they filed out to retrieve what Bruce asked for and hopefully not bother him for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> I've finally caught up, so their might be long periods of time between chapters now depending on how much I write.  
> Anyway, thanks so much for all the love and thanks for reading.


	11. The problem with lunch

The worried wait for Bruce continued and their spirits were low. They felt horrible about what Batman said, it hurt even more because they knew he was right. They felt like they were just in his way.

But-But this was their mission and while it's exposed their not so great team work skills, that's ok b-because the Justice League have not been around that long and every mission they go on only improves their dynamic. So really Bruce's disappointment towards them was just extra encouragement to recover from this problem. It was this strange sense that they needed to prove themselves to Bruce, make him proud of what they can become, in a weird way.

Bruce returns back to the Batcave around four in the morning, not really trying to be quiet which is what his known for as he rips the mask off his face slamming it onto a metal table. The other Justice League members are already asleep on the floor when he gets in, but Clark hadn't fallen asleep yet and was watching him from where he laid. He had been too worried to sleep. All this talk about failing as a team and the possibility of him getting hurt because they didn't watch his back, kind of made him panic. Being who he is Clark never really had to sleep before and this is the first time his really felt the pull of sleep but he willed himself awake just long enough to see him walk into the medical station.

* * *

Bruce wasn't really pissed, more annoyed. With himself. Not with his intuition though. That was spot on. After telling the others to leave he was able to follow the semi-trucks leaving the scene. It was hard to keep up from the rooftops, so he jumped down on top of the last truck as quietly as possible. He leans down trying to open the back to see what they were carrying, when the passenger in the front of the truck must of saw him in a mirror. They started to shoot at him, with terrible aim but to be expected of someone hanging out of a window while driving. But he doesn't risk it. He unlatched the back doors as fast as he could, seeking the safety in the back. He looks at the contents inside quickly noticing strange machinery and weapons like the one that shot his older self. He places small trackers on the bottom of some of the crates and some of the other strange equipment in places he hopes they won't notice the bug. The driver of the truck has started to swerve all over the road and even onto the footpath as he hears the screams of the pedestrians as they jump to get out of the way.

The door that's swinging open clips a building on the corner of the street as they turn, which rips the medal door clean off. Leaving the side of the truck with sharp tattered edges.

The speeding truck passes another vehicle in its convoy and Bruce hangs over the side and quickly throws another tracking device attaching itself to the rim of the trucks tire. In the process of flinging himself back into the safety of the trailer, he cuts his arm on the jiggered side. It slices through the hoodie his wearing and he lets out a silent curse. He quickly leans down again and places another tracker on the inside of the mud flap and rolls off and the truck that barely slows for another corner. He stands up noting the fleeting convoy of vehicles. He realizes that there is quite a bit of blood coming from his arm. It's not a big cut, probably only needs a few stitches. But he takes off his now ripped jumper and poorly ties it around the wound and starts to make the long track back to the Batcave.

His glad his here and not the other league members, surely they'd be crying in pain and completely lost in one of the most crime riddled cities in America.

He walks into the medical station just to quickly stitch up is wound and then begin the next step in this investigation.

There sitting in the one of the cots is Bruce, laptop open, eyes scanning the screen and fingers dancing along the keypad. He doesn't look up but they both know that he acknowledges his presence. Instead of interrupting him, which has become an annoying habit of his teammates Bruce moves to where he thinks the needle and thread should be.

He hears the clink of the laptop closing and eyes start to bare into his back.

'Ah so talking it is'

"How's your shoulder? " Bruce starts, but his voice is stale and cold, clearly uncaring about the answer.

"What did you do?" Bruce retorts, voice also dull but unlike his counterpart draped in heavy emotion.

Bruce's eyebrows scrunched together, before he turned his head over his shoulder to look at the man lying in the bed.

"...Pardon?"

"Tonight" he starts again, swinging his feet over the side of the cot and began to stand up "It should have been simple. Easy to even-"

"You're the one who got shot-"

"-Then you and your team showed up!"

That shocked Bruce. Was he insinuating that that tonight was his fault. Clearly he needed some help so they provided it. Isn't that what this whole Justice League is for. Help? (or at least that's always what Clark tries to tell him) Although himself doesn't actually like it apparently his older self did need it. Honestly back there Bruce didn't want to get involved but everyone else thought they needed to so he went along as well, trying not to leave anyone behind. But apparently that backfired.

Bruce could admit he couldn't handle that himself and if he could have, he's pretty sure his old self could have too. So he stayed quiet while he gave Bruce a pointed look just so he understood that he didn't like to be ridiculed.

"I just couldn't believe it when you saw you show up. Them-" he pointed towards the open area where his teammates were asleep " I could understand, but you. Going out there like that! Putting civilians in the line of fire. I thought you had more of a brain."

'Oh' Bruce thought this wasn't about the fact that they helped him in the fight it was the fact they went out at all.

Bruce's voice lowered dangerously

"Such a disappointment"

"Excuse me" Bruce cracked. "How am I meant to control what the others do I was just providing backup for them anyway I didn't want to be down there!"

"Back up! What kind of back up were you providing them? You did nothing and they did nothing for you! You don't fight together, you don't look out for each other it's like you think it's you against the world and you don't know how to utilise each other's strengths and weaknesses. It would've been better if you didn't come at all."

Bruce was quite once again, fists clenched at the side. Blood dripping down his forearm.

"Then you just run off ditching not only your teammates but a man down. I can understand following the lead but you went alone when there was plenty of other people to go with you and still take me back here to get treated that was just plain stupid. And your arm" Bruce paused looking down at the cut " you let that happen? I bet that was completely preventable."

Bruce didn't want to fight over this. He was used to people not understanding his motives, but I guess he just thought he would be somewhat familiar with himself. Apparently not "...it's fine, small cuts happen all the time" he grumbled

"To you maybe. But in that body, you practically injured an innocent" Bruce sighed in his hands before he wobbled to the right side of the room towards a compartment pulling out a needle and third and other materials such as disinfected and bandages. He went back and sat on the side of his bed.

He gestures for Bruce to join him. Bruce hesitated but sat down and accepted the help of the older man. He could do better than his attempt one handed.

Bruce began to tend to the wound and stich it up and to his younger self's surprise with such delicacy rather than rough patching he does himself (probably why most of his stitch's left scars)

"This won't happen again. Will it?"

What? w-was he lecturing me right now Bruce thought

"...You're serious?" Bruce was met with eyes that bore into him that meant he had no room for negotiation

"Will it?" Bruce repeated in a voice that reminded him of a father who spoke to a child that got caught with its hand in the cookie jar.

"I can't promise anything" he finally answered. Bruce's eyes still dug into him this time flashing red with anger and his Batman voice came out in full force as he told him that

"Unfortunately you're going to have to!"

The silence that followed was deafening, until the anger in Bruce's eye shifted from anger to some sort of sadness. He dropped his head back down to focus on the wound and quietly whispered supposably to himself

"he doesn't need anymore"

What?

'Anymore what?' Bruce thought. Clearly there was something going on under the surface of this charade. He watched as his older self carefully and silently closed up the wound, his mind begging for him to ask questions to interrogate. But the atmosphere of the room stopped him, not wanting to disturb the frustrated man any longer so they sat in complete silence until he finished.

* * *

The next day Bruce could feel the judgemental stares of his teammates as he sat at the computer trying to work out how to access the location of the bugs on this new computer. He told Bruce earlier that day about the bugs he was able to plant, but all he got in return was a serious look added on with a "I'll look into it" before he left for upstairs to either do daytime or night-time work, who knew. Bruce decided to use the Batcomputer to do his own research (if he can figure out how to use it that is).

That is until Clark and Diana walked up behind him. Clark looked uncomfortable but Diana was determined.

"Bruce"

"Diana" Bruce swivelled the chair around so he was now facing the duo.

"Get up we're going on a trip" Diana commanded. Bruce sighed and spun back around and continued fiddling with the computer.

"I thought older me would have yelled at you for the little stunt you guys pulled yesterday" Bruce retorted in an uncaring tone.

Diana gritted her teeth and her fists bawled up at the side of her. Clark seeing this quickly stepped in. He grabbed the back of Bruce's chair and swung in around once again. This did not impress Bruce at all as he shot Clark the deadliest glare he could muster. It wasn't the same type of impact on this new face, but it strangely still sent shivers down his spine at the intensity of it.

"Ah yeah Bruce we were" Clark tries in a gentle tone "but we're not going out to investigate or fight or anything. Just going to grab lunch or something. Some team building, you know? So that um... let's be honest that _type_ of teamwork can't happen again. I know it's just lunch, but getting to know each other outside the cape is important for us to function. So come on, up and at 'em!"

"Are you done with your little speech Clark?"

"Um yes?"

"Good because I refuse"

"No Bruce" Dianna said with a tight smile "You cannot say 'no' this time. Now UP." Bruce's gaze lifted up towards where Diana's creepy smile was daring him to refuse her. He stared at her and more importantly the look in her eyes a while longer before he stood up.

"Fine" he sighed

"Good choice!" she grinned a real smile this time.

As they made their way to the back of the cave towards where the dozens of vehicles were parked. They spotted Barry in the driver's seat of what appeared to be a black SUV. Clearly more if it was down in the cave, probably for missions where he needed to blend in more.

Barry beeped the horn, sticking his head out the window, waving his arms and calling out to them.

"Come on guys! Get in, let's go eat!"

Diana smiled at Barry, while Clark laughed as he made his way towards the backseat of the car. But Bruce made a b line towards Barry in the driver's seat. He opened the door before the confused _previous_ speedster.

"Move over" he demanded and proceeded in getting in the car forcing Barry to awkwardly climb over the middle console of the car, careful not to push any of the scary looking buttons.

"Oh come on, why don't I ever get to drive" Barry sulked

"Do you even know how to drive Barry?" Clark asked from the back

"W-what? Of course I do, why wouldn't I"

"I don't know" Dianna continued "seems kind of pointless to me"

"OH are we going to have this argument about cars again 'princess' " In which led Barry into his long rant about having super speed didn't mean he used it for normal day things (even though he totally did). But the getting to know one another was heading off to a good start.

They decided to just get some burgers, much to Bruce's distain in a cheaper part of Gotham considering that they were only able to scab so much off Alfred. It was a small place, a bit run down and most of their custom base looked like they were preparing for a fight to break out in the middle of the day, but my gosh it had to be the best burgers Barry's ever had and that's saying something.

To Clark the day had been a success, everyone was getting along and he likes to think they bonded a little. It's true they were only able to get a few words out of Batman, but it was amazing just for him to add his opinion in something they considered personal enough to talk about and further away from the hero like that they could speak about it openly in public.

They were getting ready to leave stepping out into the street and turning the corner. Everyone was all smiles, except for Bruce but Diana swears she saw his lip twitch and surprisingly the day had been quite pleasant.

* * *

"Hey guys look over there" called Andy from the passenger seat of his mate, Sammy's van. Sam in the driver's seat looked at him dumbly with his face stuffed with food while three of his other friends in the back stuck their heads into the front trying to see what Andy was seeing, spilling food as they moved.

"You mean the diner?" one asked

"no no no! Look those four boys getting ready to leave. I swear I've seen them somewhere before, like on TV or something" Andy explained

"Holy shit! your right! That's the Wayne brats!"

"Who?" one in the back questioned

"You know, that billionaire Bruce Wayne guy. Practically owns this city. Seen as a prince around here or some shit. That's his kids! Seen them on TV before. Point is that family is super rich" Sammy told them.

"Oh damn your right it is them! Don't recognise the tall one with the white on his head though"

"Probably a bodyguard or somethin' you know how these people are" They watched them as they paid the bill and got up readying to leave

"You know-" One began "how much you wanna bet that their daddy is willing to lend us a couple million in exchange to see the little ones again"

That gained a sneaky grin from all five of them as they now started to get ready.


	12. In the kitchen

Diana glared at her captives from where she sat tied up against a metal beam. She originally only had a rope going about her torso but after she somehow got lose and kick one guy in the shin and bit someone else she ended up with duct tape abound her legs, arms, wrists wrapped up behind the pole and a piece to cover her mouth.

Clark on the other hand glared at Diana for she was the reason for their even more uncomfortable situation. He was content on just waiting for a recuse, since these people just seemed like low level thugs and not part of some big criminal organisation. Probably just some individuals looking to make some money from kidnapping, desperate parents giving everything they have to get their kids back. Though this was the Justice League so nothing like that would have happen.

This was not the situation neither of them wanted to be in, but at least both Bruce and Barry were out there somewhere hopefully trying to get them back.

This whole mess started when a group of rough looking guys cornered them in an ally using their car to both block and hide what was happening in that ally way. Before even realising what was happening the two biggest guys ran full bawl at Bruce and Barry quickly taking them to the ground hard. While this happened the others grabbed the two smallest of the group and flung them into the back of the van, practically lifting them up in the air. They had tried to fight back but their arms were held tight making them feel as if they were fighting against someone with super strength. So they ended up just kicking at air.

Once they were in the van and limbs were pinned down, getting ready to tie them up with some loose cable only then did the situation really come to them.

They were just kidnapped

How could they, members of the almighty Justice League be taken so easily. It was clear that the abductors had planned to snag the youngest two and left what they presumed the more troublesome ones out in the ally. Oh they were mad.

This is when the rest of the occupants decided to cheer and congratulate themselves.

"Some body guard that was!"

"This is gonna be one hell of a pay day, boys"

"Hell yeah! I can't believe we actually did that"

* * *

After ditching the van on the side of some cliff and getting another car they were moved to a second location on the outskirts of Gotham. Some half built construction sight of what looked like it was meant to be some impressive skyscraper before it was left abandoned for some reason. By looking out over the side they could probably guess that they were at least 12 floors up.

And that's where they landed in their current predicament, tied to the iron skeleton of abandoned project.

Diana let out a growl and thrashed in her bindings.

One of them strolled over, grabbing her by the chin forcing her to look at them.

"Don't worry boy, once daddy hears of this and gives us a few mil, you'll be free to go. That's nothing to your family right?"

They smiled letting go harshly and spinning around

"Com' on, we got a call to make"

* * *

Bruce was sitting at his desk in Wayne tower looking at some information conserving the bugs his younger self planted the night before. Angrily staring at the screen where the points seemed to converse. There was a bang outside his office door and a seconded later his secretary came stumbling through the door in a panicked demeanour.

"Mr Wayne!" she yelled practically running towards is desk, only to stop short a few feet before straightening her stance.

"Sir, there is a horrible situation" the panic was clear in her eyes and her hands ringed with nervousness. Bruce inwardly signed slowly closing the files he had on the case to not cause suspicion. He blinked up at her putting on his best act to look throw off.

"What? Why? What's happened?"

"Sir we just received a call. It appears to be a group of kidnappers claim to have... your two youngest sons-"

What the hell Bruce thought, eyes actually going wide at her declaration. This has happened more times then he'd like to think, but not a situation like this. Surely they didn't go out fighting again after their conversation the other night. Even they are not that stupid. But then again the kidnappers did call his office which meant they went out as themselves (well not themselves but with no masks). Bruce's mind was already running through all the possible ways to get them back and also all the ways he would yell at them once he got them back. And he was going to get them back.

"-But don't worry! I've already contacted the police and they all over it. They already realised a public statement on the first step about locating them."

Annnd that's going to put a hole in at least 7 plans his already come up with. Now pretty much useless.

"T-Thanks. Um I-I'll go see the commissioner now!" That was a lie. He is first going to see were the other two are and what the hell happened to get them in this situation.

He stood up abruptly and flew to the door grabbing his coat on the way. With the door open he came to a halt and slowly turned his head towards where the shocked secretary still stood.

"Postpone everything until they're back home" and with that left, with the door slamming shut behind him. He had two idiots to find and interrogate.

* * *

On the other side of town, in a speeding cab sat an angry little Bruce and a twitchy Barry. Bruce mad because he let himself get jumped by some common thug's and Barry twitchy because one, he was a bit traumatised and two, because he kept mumbling the same pattern over and over again.

"P7G 859. P7G 859. P7G 859..." Barry continued to mumble under his breath. An already seething Bruce snapped.

"Ahggg, would you stop! What are you even trying to do?"

"-59. Shhhh I'm trying to remember the licence plate. Now shush I need to concentrate!" Barry said not even looking up at Bruce. "P7E 59... Ag! Damn it! What was it?!"

"It was P7G 859. Now would you stop your useless mumbling."

Barry looked at him in shock. "If you remembered it tell me! I've been stressing out about that number for the last 5 minutes!"

As the taxi came to a stop Barry looked outside at their destination.

Wayne manor.

"What are we doing here" Barry gasped getting out of the cab "you know what older you said. We can't go into the house!'

Bruce who had paid the driver and was watching them depart down the lane, turned to Barry. "Where would you have liked to go Barry because I'm pretty sure telling that driver to take us to the cave would have been a bad idea" he said with an eye roll and started his walk to the front steps of the manor. "I swear we wouldn't have had this problem if I didn't listen to you all and had given my _own_ car keys to Dianna because 'she can hold on to them better'. What does that even mean-"

"Well technically it isn't yours yet"

"Barry." Bruce sighed "Please." after a moment pause he continued again "and walking here would have taking too long. A lot could have happened to them in that time-" that earned a frown from Barry "we need to find Alfred so he can call... me. He should be in the kitchen preparing dinner."

He pushed open the giant double doors and made a bee-line to where the kitchen should be. Barry had to hurry to keep up and not get lost in the maze of corridors, which is something Barry thought he'd never have to do.

Bruce suddenly stopped. Face five inches from a wall. Barry skidded to a stop in a failed attempt to not crash into the frozen man.

Barry stared at his back. "What's wrong"

Bruce tilted his head only slightly to the right before declaring "nothing" and started walking down the right corridor.

Bruce thought that was weird. There wasn't meant to be a wall there. He assumed everything would be the same. This whole time travel thing hasn't really had that much effect on him. But it was strange how just what seemed to be a simple remodel of this part of the manor could be a reminder that his present won't always be the same (even if he doesn't want it to change).

He'd speed past the familiar family heirlooms and portraits of ancestors long dead, not really paying them any mind. Until he turned into what he hoped was meant to be the kitchen. And that's where the difference really made an impact.

It no longer even looked like the same room at all. A lot brighter, modern and homely. The normally dark and dreary room that was once just used for cooks to make food to be presented to their masters in the dining room, was now scattered with windows letting in a warm light. The out of date kitchen now replaced with modern appliances, including two twin stainless steel ovens and stoves and a large fridge, no longer hiding in the butler's pantry, although he did spot one of the old familiar combustion oven to one side of the benches.

But what really stood out as different was the added breakfast bar that held twelve stools on one side of the large island, as well as the simple round wooden table that sat in front of a large bay window, a vase of flowers sat in the middle of the table obviously from Alfred's well-loved garden.

Speaking of Alfred, there he was. Back facing them leaning against the middle island facing a small TV on the opposite bench. He had a cup of tea and saucer in his hand gripped maybe a little too tightly as his eyes bore into the TV unwavering, his face showing a sort of mix of emotion that Bruce only really sees when he gets back from a partially bad patrol. Disappointment? Fear? Worry? Grief? The TV was at a low volume and Bruce tried to peak to the side of Alfred to see what he was viewing, but Barry pushed past him, alerting Alfred of their presents.

"Alfred! Thank god! We're in huge trouble" Alfred turned slightly towards them before grabbing the remote and turning the TV off. But before he was able Bruce caught sight off what now revealed to be a news program and to the side of the host was the recognisable figures of the boys that their friend's souls were currently borrowing. They were in the same photo. Both dressed in fancy and expensive suits, hair slicked back and the familiar fake smiles he so often puts on himself.

That did not seem good for Bruce. One it looks like they know each other and two it looks like news of their disappearance is already considered high profile news. Now, Bruce still had no idea if them missing was due to them just being kidnapped of the fact that they technically went missing a couple of days ago when they first came to this time period (Even though his older self said he'd handle it).

"Oh heavens, you know being in the manor is off bounds to you two. What are you doing up here?"

"Oh Alfred you would not believe it! We went out for lunch, you know for some team bonding. But we got jumped! I-I don't know how but they took them! They took Clark and Dianna-"

Bruce didn't know why but hearing it out loud, that two of the most powerful league members were kidnapped by some low level (hopefully) Gotham thugs made him want to smirk. Like Barry said it was pretty unbelievable.

"-can you get in contact with Bruce" Barry finished.

"Oh my, yes. I'll get hold of him now" Alfred gasped leaving the room and heading down the hall.

Alfred of course knew what had happened with Tim and Damian thanks to the news program, but no matter how many times this happened and unfortunately it was a lot, it still worried him to death. No doubt Bruce already knew of the situation as well but Bruce was still probably worried about Jason and Dick so he needed to tell him that they are safe and at home.

* * *

Bruce back in the kitchen caught Barry's shoulder as he went to follow Alfred out of the kitchen.

"What's up?" Barry asked eyeing the hand on his shoulder cautiously.

"I saw something on the TV" Bruce stated moving back towards the remote on the counter and turning the TV back on. Barry hoped up and sat on the counter and watched in anticipation.

The TV showed a different picture then before. This one was actually two separate photos. It seemed to be their latest school photographs. The host continued the broadcast "- _again the two boys were seemed to be taken around 2 pm this afternoon and a call from the kidnappers have been made with them demanding a ransom-"_ Both Barry and Bruce were staring at the screen intensely. They couldn't believe how fast the kidnappers moved. Clearly a bit inexperienced in this whole thing. They turned back into the program.

" _-so if anyone has any information about the kidnapping of 16 year old Tim Drake-Wayne and 11 year old Damian Wayne please contact the GCPD"_

 _..._ Huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey  
> Thanks for reading! Just incase anyone asks I kind of think that a lot of the family photos and stuff are in more personal areas of the manor, like in sitting rooms and stuff and not just randomly down a hallway. Anyway hope you liked this chapter


	13. Photo Evidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,  
> Bit of a warning there is a tiny bit of swearing here. This is mostly filler but thanks for reading.

_'-now to our next story, do you know where you children are? Because research has shown-'_

Bruce switched the tv off. Barry still stared wide eyed at the now black screen. His eyes moved over to Bruce who was also glaring at the blank tv. Barry opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't decide what. It's in these situations that his thankful that he has or had a brain that worked faster then everyone else's because before he decided to in fact not say anything at all, his mouth was still hanging open for way too long to be considered normal. What was he meant to say anyway. Congratulations? I'm sorry? My condolences? Wow...kids huh? Agh that just didn't feel right when talking about the Batman. Did he even like kids? No way in hell were those two planned. Who would even fall for the emotional studded _'I work alone'_ Batman. Annnd I don't like where this train of thought was going.

Barry quickly closed his mouth and pretended to look interested at the pots and pans hanging up above of him, waiting for whatever was going though Bruce's mind to soak in and for him to start the conversation first. Because if Barry was being honest with himself he **really** wanted to talk to Bruce about this. Ah he feels like a 15 year old girl longing for some gossip, but he doesn't care this is some juicy stuff. This is the type of stuff you expect when time traveling. It's just he never thought it would be... well, Batman.

But in Bruce's mind, well in his mind the information was clicking in much slowly. 'Wayne'? he thought. Wayne is my name last name. Who else has the the same last name as me living in Gotham. Wayne is not a rare name, even for a first name. But what _Wayne_ family in Gotham had two black hair children that only got kidnapped like not even an hour ago but already was in the headlines. A Wayne family that had to be rich enough to send both kids to that fancy school and for the kidnappers to risk grabbing them in broad daylight. A Wayne family that apparently didn't care where they children have been after they ran away from school, but were later told every thing was fine and they'd be gone for a few days by a complete stranger on the phone or even a crazy man in the Bat costume. Two boys that made Alfred pull that worried face when staring at the news cast. A rich, important, Wayne family in Gotham that Alfred probably knew and he himself could orchestrate.

...Oh my god

It's his family!

Bruce could feel his hands beginning to shake, quickly grabbing the countertop for something to tether him to his new reality. It all started to make scene now. Why Clark and Diana or should he say Damian and Tim were kidnapped. How Batman just 'handled' the kids parents. Why he found them so fast. Why he even looked for them in the first place! Why the cave just let the others walk straight in without setting off any alarms. Why Bruce had turned off the lights to 'clean up' for gods sake.

Why he got so worried when we went out.

Guilt floored him hard at that, remembering what Bruce had told him. How upset he'd been. His shaking picked up even more.

Then he remembered the smirk on Bat-mites face.

He knew what he was doing! This was just some game for him.

The bench felt like it was going to crack under the pressure of Bruce's grip. Then a thought occurred to him. If bat-mite knew what he was doing and put Diana and Clark in his sons bodies, then who was he? And Barry?

If Clark and Diana were posing as his sons...

His sons

'My sons' he thought. That is something he never thought he'd say. His always been so careful and now to say that their were people out there he called his sons, just sounded strange on his toing. Or mind in this case.

But if Bat-mite purposely put them into his... children's bodies, where was he? He and Barry can not be the only random ones.

Bruce slowly turned to look at Barry.

Barry snaps his head back to look at Bruce again a giddy smile threatening to break free, making him look like he had a quivering grin. Bruce continued to stare at him with the most emotion Barry has ever seen on his face before (even though it wasn't his face) but the look in his eyes seemed more horrified then anything.

Barry wanted to laugh.

But Bruce's mind kept ticking. He moved his gaze away from Barry and lifted his own shaking hands in front of his face. Focusing more on the calluses and little scars littering them.

_No way_

_...more?_

Barry couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Well, this is a change in events huh?" he said practically shaking in his seat.

"...Yes Barry. That it is" Bruce replied a bit spacey. He looked over at Barry again and decided to pull himself together. Standing up straight and stepping away from the tabletop. Two of his children of the future have now been kidnapped under his watch. He didn't think older him would be pleased.

Bruce and Barry walked out of the kitchen and followed the sound of Alfred's voice to a room where he was on the phone presumably with Bruce. Alfred gave a sight nod in acknowledgement as he went though what details he had about the situation, Barry adding in what led to prier to the kidnapping and what other information he cold offer here and there.

No would notice as Bruce slipped out. But Alfred caught him as he disappeared from the doorway, pretending not to notice. A knowing look in his eyes as he refocused on the matter at hand.

Bruce entered a room he knows well. His father's study. Well, by the looks of things it's his study now. Back in his time he'd never really felt comfortable changing it and his older self hadn't really changed much but it was still noticeable to someone who spends a lot of time in there. He walks around the familiar desk, now noticing the three frames littering the front of it. One was a picture he knew well, of his parents and him a couple months before they passed. The other one was of Alfred sitting down at the dining table with a cake placed in front of him, Bruce stood to one side of him, hand resting on the chairs back. There were a couple of faces he recognised like Clark and Diana or more accurately Tim and Damian. And there was a few he didn't at all, like the blond haired girl who sat next to another dark haired, Asian girl. There was a couple of other people he didn't recognise including a young lady with red hair in a wheelchair to Alfred's direct left who oddly enough pulled strings in Bruce's memory like had in fact seen them in a different photo once. There was also Barry's host body there giving a cheeky grin into the camera. It seemed he was the only one who acknowledged the cameras presents as everyone else were to busy looking in Alfred's direction. And there finally in the corner of the screen was his own temporary face. He was the one taking the picture, his face slightly cut out because of the angle his holding the camera at, but the smile is clear as day in his eyes.

The last frame has five different small photos in it most of them school pictures. He recognised the school picture of Damian from the news, there was also one of Tim but younger probably 11 or 12. There were two more small boys all neatly draped in the fancy school uniform beaming at the camera. He could tell that it was him and Barry's host bodies even though their current self's were much older. The only photo that wasn't a school picture or was taken when the person was around 10-12 was the fifth one which was of the black haired girl from the other photo, with her head resting on her knee and smiling slightly at the camera, she seemed around 17 in this photo.

There was a new wooden cabinet sitting to one side of the door and on it sat even more photos. Bruce took his time to scan though them all. So, he guesses this just confirms what he thought about his and Barry's host too. They are also related to him.

Fucking Bat-mite

Barry and Alfred appear in the doorway. Alfred looked soundly at Bruce as he held up a new photo. Barry steps in up behind to look at what Bruce was looking at. Recognising the faces in some of the photos Barry scrunches his face up in a twisted smile.

"I knew it! Look, I'll admit that I had no idea at the start, but once Diana and Clark were exposed as your kids, I knew there was a connection between us. But jeez Bruce four?-" Maybe more Bruce thinks "this is why Bat-mite was having such fun"

Bruce looks deep in thought before he looks towards his oldest friend.

"Alfred... Is this true?" Alfred the normally stoic, loyal butler can't help but feel sorry for the man when he hares the desperate note in his voice

"Who's to say, young master" Bruce knew in Alfred speak that was practically a yes.

_Damn_

"You know I thought this was pretty creepy to begin with, but is it weird that now knowing this is your sons body makes it like 1000 times more gross." Barry finished with a nervous chuckle clearly not liking the serious aura. Then a another thought occurred to him.

"Oh my god! Bruce! That was you on the phone! Remember the other day"

"Oh I guess your right... how did I not figure that out" Bruce said the last bit more to himself, biting his nail. Something he hasn't done since he was a boy and inwardly cringing when he recalled the 'worried father' that called Barry when they first got here.

Why was he living in such an apartment anyway. No way was it Alfred approve.

* * *

Diana was getting a little more pissed off with this guy. She could feel her cheek starting to bruise from a mean slap that one of the goons gave her to stop her from talking. Clark was still glaring at her, telling her though his eyes to shut up or she's gonna get hurt again. But Diana was also getting bored with waiting for the others to come get them.

But, both her and Clark were filing away little bits of information.

This had to be a personal attack. Well, maybe not personal but by judging what he said earlier they were from some rich families that were high profile enough that people knew who there were. Just like Bruce feared.

They should really listen to his concerns more.

The 'main' man walked back into the room

"Alrighty, calls been made and dad should be paying up soon and you kiddos will be out of here in no time" He said as he looked over to the two chained up. "And no more of that talkback Damian, I swear I'd think you'd know the drill by now" he added with a smirk.

...kidnapped a lot then?

The others better hurry up and get them out of here because Clarks hands were starting to chafe together from him trying to get more comfortable. Superman was invincible but being someone who has had the pleasure of never experiencing that before it really bothered him. Maybe if he uses a bit of charm and display how 'weak' he was the man would show mercy and loosen them a bit.

He looked up to the man with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster and tried to find some of that farm boy charm he's told his got way to much of. Even a criminal would feel bad for a poor, hurt kid.

"Excuse me, Sorry but my hands are really sore would you be able to loosen the tape just a tad"

"Shut up! I ain't loosen the fucking ties-" he bellowed, walking over and crouching down to Tim's height " Just. Just shut up and be quite. If your dad knows what's good for ya you wont be here too long 'kay"

'Right' Clark pouted in his mind 'I'm in Gotham'

Diana was glaring at him form her side and the man noticed.

"Oh what your worried about you're brother, now" he stated annoyed and slung back up and walked away from the pair.

...Wait

"Brother!" they both shirked at the same time, before a distant 'Shut up' answered them.

That makes so much more sense if it was true. The way they kept referring to one singular Dad. Oh the poor family. To have two sons taken away and held for ransom.

They just wanted Batman to hurry up. They'd been in this stinky building for hours now, no way Bruce normally took this long dealing with a low level thugs who kidnapped two kids on a bloody whim.

Just then the sounds for sirens in the distance drew they attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again!  
> Thanks so much for reading. Just so you know I might be pretty busy for a while so I might take longer to update then I've already have. I might be fine, but just letting you know just in case it does happen.


	14. Collecting

Bruce found himself dragging his feet up the steps from the Batcave into his home pretty angry but too tried to show it.

From a portable device he was able to find security footage from a store front near where he believes Damian and Tim were taken. Proving that Jason and Dick were fine and hopped in a cab. This settling some of his worry over them so he could then focus all of his worry the two youngest. He went up and met with the commissioner who assured him that they would find his missing children and promised to call as soon as they knew where they were after he did the whole sad, angry worried father bit which if he was bring honest to himself wasn't really an act. No matter how many times this happened it never got any easier.

He had started a quick investigation into finding the boys and after receiving a call from Alfred with further confirmed where the two older were, (although he was not impressed that they made their way upstairs where he told them strictly not to go) he was able to get more information from the call to work off of. It took no time at all to find them. An abounded construction site on the outskirts of the city. Classic.

Trying to stick to the shadows of the Gotham's buildings in his Batman suit during the day, attempting not to be seen was a tad difficult, but not necessarily hard. He dropped the information off at Gordon's office without a word and headed straight back home.

Pushing the clock to the side he stepped into his office. Now he had to deal with a nosey Barry and even worst a nosey him in his house.

He followed the sound of Jason's voice leading to the kitchen. There he found Alfred and his two eldest. Barry sat at the island talking to Alfred with a cup of tea in his hand and a finish plate of what looked to be some type of pie to his right. The sight was not an unusual one in this house and it made Bruce smile. What was unusual though was the fact that Dick was in the room and not joining in. He had an untouched slice of pie to his left and a scowl on his face as he hunched over a laptop seemingly hacking into the GCPD database. Bruce didn't like that look on Dick's face.

"Master Bruce" Alfred acknowledged, prompting him to fully step in the room. Bruce gave him the side eye, while Barry hoped out of his chair.

"Any news about Clark and Diana?" He asked worried. Alfred also walked over looking for his answer.

Before he could though Bruce's voice spoke up. "I'm in the middle of hacking the GCPD, I'm not familiar with some of this new tech but the GCPD security has always been pretty bad, should only be a few more seconds"

"No need. They have already been found. I'm just waiting for the call" Bruce replied

"Oh" Bruce said just as the GCPD database came on to screen. Noticing he quickly slammed the laptop closed. Blushing a bit out of embarrassment.

"So" Bruce started again "I see you have broken the rules I set and came upstairs"

"Well we couldn't just tell the taxi driver to drop us off at the Batcave" Bruce said for the second time that day. Bruce grunted in response as Alfred poured a cuppa for him as well.

"Besides Bruce, it looks like you were hiding some pretty important stuff from us" Barry said, slinging an arm around Bruce's shoulders and looking at him with a sly smile.

"Barry"

"Yeah, Bruce?" Barry asked a bit confused.

"Arm. Remove it."

"...Ah haha yeah sorry" he chuckled nervously as he slowly retracted his arm.

Just then a ringing was herd coming from Bruce. He reached into his pocket pulling out what they assumed was his phone. He gave them each a look before turning his back to them and answering.

"Commissioner Gordon! Any news?!" Bruce said letting urgency lace his voice. He could hear Barry giggle behind him.

"Yes, Hello Mr Wayne. We have gotten information on the location of your sons as promised."

Bruce turned more into himself, trying to hide his conversation from the others in the room. Barry side eyed his Bruce as older Bruce continued his talk with Gordon in which Bruce responded with an eye role.

"Yes. Yes. Thank you, commissioner Gordon we'll be there shortly." He turns back around as three sets of eyes land on him.

"That was Gordon. He said that they had found the boys and were going to start the extraction process soon. By the time we get there they hopefully will be out and being looked at by the medics."

"Oh cool! So we get to go with you?"

"We can chat in the car"

"Are you sure it's wise leaving it up to the police" Bruce questioned

"Trust me. Over the years the Gotham city police department has improved greatly. Maybe there's still room for more improvement but I'm sure they can handle something like this." Bruce said as he wrote down an address on a piece of paper he pulled from his pocket. "Alfred if you don't mind driving us to this location." He handed the piece off to his old friend.

"Certainty master Bruce" Alfred said walking off to start the car.

They followed Bruce back to the entrance of the house. Bruce grabbed a suit jacket shrugging it on.

"So Bruce, I really gotta know" Barry snickered as they opened the door and made their way down the staircase to where Alfred was waiting in a large slink black car. "Kids huh? Like seriously how did you of all people end up with that. You never seemed like the person ya know?" Bruce all but hummed as he sat in the back of the large limousine like car. When he received no answer he continued.

"Come on dude! This is killing me I just gotta know how this happened" There were a few beats of silence as Bruce gave him an odd look. Barry realizing what it sounded like he said

"N-not like that. But you know what I mean!" he whined as the car pulled out of the long driveway

Bruce inwardly sighed. This is exactly why he didn't want to tell them. He looked over to his younger self and could just feel the awkwardness drip off him as Barry continued to speak and ask questions.

It was going to be a long car trip.

* * *

"Oh finally" Clark breathed ready to be done this whole mess of a kidnapping. Clark hasn't been around that much in this business, but even he knows this was extremely poor in its planning.

The lights and sirens from the multiple police cars outside filled the room and the kidnappers started to panic. The screaming started as they all started to point their fingers at each other and put the blame for the botched job. Diana was unamused with their stupidity.

A couple of them bolted for the door in an attempted to get away. Unless though because they wasted so long during their blame game that the police had no doubt surrounded the whole building.

One of them argued that they should just surrender and hope to get off on lesser charges, this was Gotham anyway there were worse things to pled guilty for. But Andy, one of the main guys refused to back down. No way was he going to jail. No, he could use the kids as leverage. Somehow get out of here like a hostage situation his seen in a bunch of movies before. Though he can't quite remember how they ended though.

He looked nervously back to the kids. You could see the sweat start to form on his brow. Andy patted his mate on the shoulder and nodded to where 'Damian' and 'Tim' sat slouched on the ground. Andy made a beeline for 'Tim' while the other one went for 'Damian'.

Just as they were about to grab the scruff of the hostage's collars, a door slammed open. In ran 25 GCPD offices all highly decked out and armed to the teeth. Shouting followed, along with threats from both sides, but ultimately the remaining three slid to their knees and held up their hands. Clark and Diana were quickly untied and were led out of the building, the whole time channelling their inner frightened child, clinging to the officers hands.

Making their way out of the building onto the muddy and dusty site one of the officers bent down to their level.

"Don't worry guys, your dad is on his way to get you. I'm going to take you to get checked out by the medics and officer Johnson is going to come have a chat with you too, all right?" she explained

"Yes, thank you" Clark responded, resting his hand on Diana's shoulder playing the part of what he assumed was 'big brother'. All the while as they walked towards the ambos, all they could share were uneasy looks.

Their 'dad' was coming.

How were they to play this off.

They didn't know these kids, what their personalities were, how they acted. They could probably just blame being traumatised by the kidnapping for any behaviour that was out of character.

But this was going to be bad. How were they going to get away and back to Batman's?

They were going to feel so guilty for sneaking out in the middle of the night. But also having to play 'family' with a bunch of strangers was also a bit unsettling.

They let the medics look at their wounds as officer Johnson gathered what information he could from the two. They tried to ignore the growing amount of press that surrounded the site as other police officers held them back.

The crowed started to split drawing their attention back to them as they watch and expensive looking black car pass though. They both groaned much to the confusion of the medics.

'oh no'

* * *

"Jeez Bruce I knew you were popular in Gotham, but this is crazy" Barry said as he looked at all the news workers and bystanders watching as they started to load the criminals in the back of the police van.

"Yes well, it means this is going to be a lot harder with everyone watching us" Bruce turns to look at his younger self "You're going to have to come with me" Bruce gave him a look "Don't worry you don't have to do much, just looked concerned and then relieved" yeah not hard at all.

The car came to a stop and both Bruce's stepped out. Barry went to follow but was pushed back in by Bruce. He looked up at him confused as Bruce half climbed back in with a frantic look on his.

"Ah No! No. You stay here Barry" Bruce stressed

"What? No way, I wanna go with you. Bruce gets to go."

"Hey keep your voice down! Look I really need you to stay in the car and out of sight. Please Barry"

"…yeah, all right" He pouted, Bruce smiled (actually smiled) and stepped out of the car once again quickly shutting the door.

'Thank you Alfred for picking a car with heavy tint' Bruce thought. He really needed to come up with a plan to announce Jason back into the family and how to actually explain what happened.

He spotted Tim and Damian sitting in the back of an ambulance with a blanket around them and a cup of what he guessed was hot coco in their hands. He raced over.

Diana and Clark were resisting to look over at the hosts family knowing they would be frantic.

But a familiar voice drew them to look.

"BOYS!" That was Bruce's voice. Their heads whipped up in the direction of the voice and sure enough there was Bruce practically running towards them. His face was retorted with worry and concern, but there was also happiness. It kind of unsettled them a bit. Batman never showed emotion so it was strange to see it there and the only other emotion they ever saw on him was when he was Brucie Wayne where he acted in drunk happiness. 'How did Bruce get in' they wondered, but also they were filled with relief. No guilt trips from strangers tonight. Behind them followed their Bruce also looking greatly worried, all acted of course.

Before they could even respond, Bruce was on top of them. He wrapped each arm around one of each of their shoulders pulling them both into a hug from where they sat in the back of the ambulance.

A tiny bit confused, Clark smiled sweetly "Uh…Hi"

"Are you boys ok? I was so worried" Bruce said squeezing one last time before letting go. He dropped to his knees in-between them and smiled almost sweetly, but his eyes told them 'Don't mess this up'.

"Um yeah we're ok, thanks" Bruce nodded his head and turned around. Clark quickly shot a look at Bruce just as a greeting, but turned again fully when he noticed that Bruce was staring intently at the both of them. Almost like he was mapping their faces, socking in every detail of them. Clark cocked his head to the side in a questioning matter at him. Bruce snapped out of it and blinked unnaturally a couple of times before almost looking surprised at his own actions and looking back towards his older self.

"It's ok Mr Wayne, a bit shaken up but they should be fine. I can't imagine what your you and family is going though" the cop spoke sincerely.

Bruce sighed in relief "So are they hurt? Do they need to go to the hospital?"

Clark and Diana were pretty confused. D-did Bruce know them.

"They have a few cuts and bruises but no need to go the hospital. I've already had a chat to them so their ready to head home." Bruce grabbed the offices hand

"I don't think I could thank you enough" he said voice barely above a whisper, eyes baring into the others with such emotion. The officer moved forward and crouched down to their level, something they found a lot of people were doing lately.

"Alright guys, your dad is here and ready to take you home. Is that okay with you guys?"

…Dad? No way.

Clark looking dumbly gawked at Bruce and Bruce in turn looked down upon him, eyes aflame, but Clark couldn't care less. He heard that right, right?

Diana however, after the internal shock started to smile. She knew Bat-mite would pull something like this. Though she didn't quite think that... this was going to be the surprise.

"...Yes thank you sir" Diana said in a quiet voice before shrugging off the blanket and handing her cup to the cop. She jumped down and padded her way over to Bruce, tugging on his sleeve "Dad, I want to go home" she whined, her smirk struggling to stay hidden. Bruce paused for a second then smiled down at her, but his eye twitched in anger.

Bruce was kind of disappointed. Damian hadn't called him dad yet, only father. But he was making progress in the area and yet the first time it came out of his mouth was not of his free-will. 'Worry not' he told himself. It will happen again. When Damian's himself again.

Clark came up to stand next to them. This time gazing at them as he looked repeatedly between them. He could see it. In fact, how did he not see it.

"Let's go then" Bruce responded with the charming Brucie smile and the group started to walk back to the car.

Clark looked back at his Bruce and noticed how he purposely avoided eye contact.

'Wow, Bruce. Who would have thought'

Bruce opened the door and ushered the three of them inside before getting inside himself. Barry still sat in the back of the car fiddling his thumbs. He brightens up when he spots them.

"Hey guys, you okay?"

"Hi, Barry and yes we are well. But we just learned some interesting news" Diana replies. Herself, Barry and Clark sat facing both Bruce's who were opposite to them.

"Oh so you guys found out too!" he says excitably. Bruce rolled his eyes and sits down with a huff.

"Wait are you guys also...?"Clark asked curiously as the car pulls away.

"YES!" Barry jumps

_Damn Bruce_

They look at each other with a weird sense of unease or maybe it was them trying to figure things out.

"You know what Bruce? I actually have a question." Barry announces

"When do you not"

"You're like super rich yeah? Then why do you let this one-" Barry gestors to himself " stay in that apartment. I know you probably just want to make him independent and all but he doesn't look that old at all, maybe not even legal and yet that place was pretty dangerous. He had like no clothes, hardly any food not even a bedframe you know and your loaded"

Bruce signed for what now had to be the thousand time since this situation occurred "Barry, that was a safe house. It's meant to be like that. He just got tired and crashed there."

"Ohh ok yeah that makes sense. Ah also before I forget, this one's-" he pointed to himself "phone and that ones-" he pointed to Clark "laptop is still there"

"Thank you Barry, I'll go get them later"

Bruce cleared his throat. Everyone looked in his direction. "What are their names?" Bruce asked. Then quickly added "so we don't have to do the 'this and that person' anymore"

Bruce was a bit shocked that he asked and so was everyone else, if all the staring was anything to go by.

Bruce flashed him a small smile "Of course, I don't think it would matter now anyway. This is Richard or Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian" he gestured to each of them.

Diana smiled "such strong names, Bruce"

Bruce scratched the back of his neck "Ah thanks" he replied a bit sheepishly. He was not going to mention the fact that he did not name a single one of them.

"In that order?" Clark asked

 _Out of this group?_ "Yes"

"So would it be possible, you know since we know now, that we could maybe sleep up stairs?" Barry asked. Looks of hope floored the three faces, while Bruce's mouth continued to set itself in a thin line. It was probably cruel to let them keep sleeping in the cave. It wasn't exactly comfy and plus if they were to get sick because of it, it wasn't their bodies that had to suffer.

"I suppose so" he answered

Excitement was there as they all celebrated their victory over the dark knight quietly in their own way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,  
> I know I said it might be a while but a five day lockdown came into play so I had time. In saying that it might be a longer wait next time. Who knows. Thank you for all the kudos, bookmark and comments:) Also-
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	15. Settled in

Stepping into the manor again there's this strange sense of calm. Diana and Clark are safely back without too much issues to come out of it. Except of course now they all know Bruce's not so secret, secret. Bruce was tired. He just wanted to go to bed, but he had to meet up with the others who were honestly doing all the work in finding Buck. It seemed he was more focused on babysitting these four (more than usual, anyway) then the actual case. Which was fine. Oracle, Batgirl, Signal, Batwoman and Spoiler were more than enough people to be looking for one person even if it was just keeping an eye out for them. What Bruce was more concerned about was the bigger picture, who were he buying it off of, what they get out of it and why? So he was going to go and check on them. See what they gathered.

"You know-" Barry said "I've never really got to have a look around this place" he started looking around the entryway before swinging a door open that led to one of the smaller ball rooms more of an entertainment room really that he used whenever he had small public gatherings. It gave off a more of a lived in vibe then the bigger ones and he preferred to use it.

A family portrait displayed above the grand fireplace caught Barry's eye. It was a bit old now but Barry noticed something missing in it.

"Ok, why am I not in this" Barry announced gaining everyone's, including Bruce's attention to the room.

"Really Bruce it's not good to play favourites" Barry said chucking. Everyone else looked up at the portrait, confusion crossing their faces. Bruce sighed. Again. He remembers that portrait. He got it done specially for this particular room. A room where the public often ventures and once again Jason is dead and can't be showing up in pictures the public is going to see.

The eyes of his teammates turned to look at him. Most eyes were filled with curiosity, but Clarks had some judgement in there.

"The same reason you weren't allowed out of the car. Now come on, let's get your rooms sorted" Bruce turned expecting them to follow him up the stairs. But they stayed behind long to give each other questioning looks.

Bruce turned back to the portrait, eyeing it suspiciously. "Interesting". Clark came up beside him "bit of mystery in your house, hey Bruce?"

"They are definitely hiding some information from us. But maybe that's for the best" Bruce then headed back to the door and went to catch up with his older self. Silently noting that they were heading into the east wing, while the Wayne family normal all stay in the west wing together. Clearly trying to separate them from his future life.

* * *

Bruce met up with Duke and Steph on the top of an old, crumbling residual building on the bay side of Gotham.

"What information have you gathered?" Batman asked.

"Well with everything you gave us and our own work-" Signal said "-we pretty much got him. You can tell that this dude is not a mastermind or wasn't expecting people to be on his back. His been shopping without a care all day."

"His suppliers on the other hand, know we're on to them. Kind of hard not to after baby Batman practically announced it with a megaphone while smashing up downtown Gotham." Steph smirked

Batman ignoring her continued.

"So do you think we'll be able to contain him soon. Now that the 'team' know whose bodies they're in I'd like them back where they belong as soon as possible"

"becoming even more annoying?" Steph asked causing him to hum in agreement

"I am the only one who thinks this is pretty messed up. Like seriously you guys aren't really freaking out about this? Their bodies were taken over!"

"Ohhh, Duke you don't even know weird yet" Steph grinned.

Duke scrunched up his face in shock and a little worry. "I was wondering if we'd get to meet see them. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'd love to see that. In fact-" Duke drew out "me a Steph have been working on something" at this Steph whipped out a few sheets of paper.

Batman knowing where this was going cut in

"I don't think so. If you guys think we can get this guy within 2 days, I think it would be better to just get him and get the others out"

"Well-" Duke said "we could probably catch him within that time frame, but it won't be taking down the big picture at the same time"

"No matter, we'll integrate him and then send him back. This situation has opened our eyes to this organisation, so we will handle it after everything is back to normal"

"I don't think the 'Justice league' or more specially, little you will like being put off the case" Steph commented

"They shouldn't have done what they did in the first place. Can you inform me when you're ready to move in on him, I'll help" Batman informed and he made a move to leave.

"Wait! wait, so we can't go see them" Steph asked. Bruce signed and looked towards the two.

"Look, I really just don't think that would be a good idea at the moment" Batman said, a look of genuine sorry painted the Batman's normal stoic mask.

"Ok. Ok, but can you at least give this-" Steph fiddled with the papers in her hand and giving all but one to Duke and attempting to hand the last one off to Batman "-to Tim. Or whoever is using Tim and get them to read it out loud. Oh! Also videotape it for me!" Steph gave him the biggest most excited grin she could muster "Pleasssseeee" she begged.

Bruce rolled his eyes taking the piece from Steph earning a happy squall from the girl. He started to walk towards the edge of the roof, passing Duke on the way, quickly tossing the page back to him and swiftly left. He could hear the duo of disappointed 'aww' from the residing rooftop.

* * *

Diana and Barry were too busy opening and closing doors to notice Bruce's annoyed glare. Every time they opened a door with such hope they were quickly disappointed to find it either empty, a basic guest room or the future in it covered in white sheets (even Alfred didn't want to clean that many useless rooms).

"If you have not noticed, I don't really use the residential side of the east wing" Bruce stated

"And maybe you shouldn't be snooping around someone else's home" Clark chimed in

"Oh, come on Kal. It's not like you don't want to look" Diana said with a satisfied smirk when Clark bristled slightly.

They'd spent the night in their own private rooms with the softest beds Barry and Clark had ever had the pleasure of sleeping in. Their rooms were positioned across from each other in the hall.

They were heading back to the kitchen for breakfast after a professional Alfred woke them up, first by knocking and telling them breakfast is ready and waiting for them down stairs, then when that didn't work, Alfred opened the curtains and let the sun blind them until they groggily got up.

Stepping into the kitchen they were greeted with a busy Alfred cooking up a feast and Bruce reading a newspaper at the table. He looked up from his paper

"Morning"

"Good morning, Bruce, Alfred" Clark greeted before sitting down next to him as the others exchanged their hellos.

"Any news on our guy yet?" Bruce asked slipping into a seat

"Yes, you guys should be home in two days. At the most." Bruce said going back to his reading.

"Really? That was pretty fast" Barry said as Alfred laid a buffet of food in the middle of the table and placed plates out in front of each member.

"Yeah I'm surprised you've had the time to do that. You have been kind of occupied with us lately" Diana observed

Having put down the paper and now filling his plate "I asked some others to look into it for me and they have done a good job so far that I can confidently say that the two days is easily achievable"

"Others?" Diana looked up in surprise

"Oh Bruce. Did you ask future us for help?" Clark asked a little touched

"What? No. It's my city, my problem"

Oh

The other three Justice League member's faces read exactly that. Bruce on the other hand looked a little smug 'damn right' he thought.

They sat there eating breakfast as small conversations littered the room Bruce not really paying attention to them for once in his life. Other Bruce on the other hand was gazing around the room. Alfred who was topping up some coffee took note of this.

"Is there something the matter young master Bruce?" Bruce turned to Alfred as everyone else were too engrossed in their own conversations.

"Why did we decide to renovate the kitchen and parts of the hallway out there. I noticed when I first came in. Don't get me wrong is nice, it's just... not what I remember"

"Oh no sir" Alfred said a little sarcastically "We didn't decide to renovate. We were forced to"

"What do you mean?" Everyone's conversations had seemed to die and now were focused in on theirs.

"I don't know" Alfred said with a tiny smirk as he looked over to Bruce, who stared back at him with horror "Why don't you ask master Bruce here why we were forced to renovate"

"Oh finally getting some juice" Barry whispered under his breath as all curious eyes moved towards where Bruce was sitting with a fresh cup of coffee in his hand.

Bruce was horrified

He blinked out of it. Producing an awaked cough "Now Alfred" Bruce started as a slight blush stained his cheeks "no one wants to hear that"

"I do" Barry announced followed by a group of mumbling agreements.

"Oh yes of course master Bruce. I am sure no one wants to hear the tale of you and your troubles making 'Dino-nuggets'" Alfred deadpanned as he went to stand behind the embarrassed man.

"Dino-nuggets" Clark whispered, hand raising to his chin like he was trying to figure out the connection.

All eyes were still on him "master Bruce?" Alfred pushed

Bruce looked up at the man before slowly turning to look at the occupants at the table. Eyes wide in anticipation.

He sighed

"Alright, Alright. One night I was maybe trying to cook some nuggets for dinner when Alfred was out and maybe started a small fire. That damaged the interior so a renovation was needed. This part of the house needed some upgrades anyway, don't you think?" he rushed completely embarrassed.

Rounds of laughter filled the room. Even Alfred joined in at the memory. The two Bruce's just sunk lower in their chairs. Bruce could feel for his older self. It looked like his cooking skills didn't improve with age after all.

"I cannot image Bruce Wayne of all people having-" Barry heaved trying to calm his laughter "DINO-nuggets for dinner and then somehow starting a bloody fire from it"

"Actually, Dick begged me to have them for dinner so it technically wasn't my fault. He knew I was a bad cook" Bruce quickly chimed in.

The laughter got louder

"Yes, master Dick was only a small child then but still knew the only time he could eat those processed dinosaurs was when I was away. And look what happened"

"He said he was hungry" Bruce defended

The rest of Breakfast went relatively smoothly. Bruce left for work and Alfred had to run to the store. He refused anyone go with him (Even after Bruce begged a little not to be left alone with them). They decided to waste the day watching movies, since they had years' worth of new material to get a sneak peck in on. They sat in what was like a family size theatre and was surprised to find a large collection of Disney movies they never even heard of before. They had a vote, ending in everyone's, but Bruce's favour. The marathon began.

Third movie down, they were still surprisingly engrossed in the movies. That when the familiar sound of the doorbell rang though Bruce's ears. Getting up he headed to the door, the others on his heel. They assumed Alfred was back and wanting a hand with getting things out of the car.

Opening the door. There was no Alfred, but a small dark haired boy around ten stood there. Ripped jeans and backpack on. His face lit up when Bruce opened the door. The other three looked on confused from behind him.

"Hey Dick!" the boy cheered "I didn't know you would be home"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's another one.   
> Thank you everyone so much for reading!   
> Until next time


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